Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, stressed that the next U.S. senator appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to succeed Vice President-elect JD Vance must be a strong enough candidate to defend the seat in the 2026 special election.
Among the names reportedly being considered to succeed Vance as Ohio U.S. Senator include former Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken (pictured above, right), State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) (pictured above, left), Republican lawyer Mehek Cooke, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and others.
Zawistowski said out of the current list of names being floated for the position, he believes LaRose would be the most successful in working to carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) in the U.S. Senate, but admitted that the secretary of state is not a “DeWine favorite.”
“Frank LaRose is probably the most MAGA of those people, but he’s not a DeWine favorite. Trump would have to weigh in heavily for Frank to get the nod,” Zawistowski said on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
The individual appointed by DeWine to fill Vance’s seat will serve until a special election is held in 2026. If elected, that individual will go on to serve a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
Despite who the governor chooses to fill Vance’s vacant Senate seat once he is sworn in as U.S. vice president, Zawistowski stressed the importance of Republicans being able to defend the Ohio U.S. Senate seat in just two years.
Zawistowski also pointed out that the Democrats are likely to run Sherrod Brown against the appointed Republican senator, who was defeated by Senator-elect Bernie Moreno in the general election after serving nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate.
“It’s really important for people to understand this. Literally in two years, in November of 2026, that person’s going to have to defend that seat in just two years, and probably against Sherrod Brown, who we just finally defeated, but that’s going to be harder without Trump on the ticket. So the choice is important because you’ve got to be able to defend,” Zawistowski explained.
Zawistowski added that Republicans must immediately work to “deliver results” once Trump is inaugurated in order to not only help the appointed Ohio U.S. senator defend the seat in 2026, but also to hold other congressional seats in states across the nation.
“Trump has two years, we have to deliver before the 2026 election. We have to close the border, deport the illegals, fix the crime issue, stop the war in Ukraine, drill baby drill, and drive down inflation because if we don’t, we could lose the House and we could lose the Senate in 2026,” Zawistowski said.
When asked by Michael Patrick Leahy what he would do if he was asked to serve as Ohio’s next U.S. Senator, Zawistowski said he would “serve with dignity” and “put country first.”
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Matt Dolan” by Matt Dolan and “Jane Timken” by Jane Timken.
