CLEVELAND — Ohio U.S. Sen JD Vance has been named the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States, chosen by former President Donald Trump as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election. It marks the first time since 1944 that an Ohio native has been on a presidential ticket, and also leads to speculation regarding the future of his Senate seat.
Of course, if the Trump-Vance ticket loses to the Democratic duo of current President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in November, Vance will almost certainly return to Congress, where he won't be up for reelection until 2028. But if Trump wins a second nonconsecutive term and Vance ascends to within a heartbeat of the nation's highest office, someone will have to replace him in the Senate, and there are several laws reflecting how that process must take place.
Firstly, Gov. Mike DeWine would have to appoint a replacement, which the Ohio Revised Code describes as "some suitable person having the necessary qualifications for senator." This person would not necessarily have to be a Republican like Vance, but considering DeWine is also a member of the GOP, it's same to assume the selection would come from the same party.
In an interview with NBC News Monday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, DeWine was asked about the potential vacancy, but declined to give specifics.
"I've learned to take one election at a time," the governor said. "We always think about things like this, especially in the last few days. But look, we have to win an election, and we're going to do that."
So let's say Trump and Vance do win the election and DeWine does choose a replacement, something that would likely occur in December of 2024 or January of 2025. It's important to note that that person would not just automatically serve the remainder of Vance's unexpired term until January of 2029. Rather, since Vance would have left the Senate more than one year before the end of his term, a special election would have to take place during "the next regular state election that occurs more than one hundred eighty days after the vacancy happens."
According to the ORC, a "regular state election" happens every "first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year." This means the special general election for the remainder of Vance's term would be held on Nov. 3, 2026, along with the rest of the state's regular midterm races. The governor would also set an earlier special primary election date for the major political parties.
Whomever DeWine would select to serve in the Senate prior to the special election is eligible to serve for the remainder of the full term, but must go through the process of running in the special primary and then winning the November election. If the governor's appointed pick chooses not to run or goes on to lose the race, the next replacement will take office around Dec. 15, 2026.
One more thing: Since this would be a special election to fill a Senate vacancy, the winner does not just earn a six-year term in the upper chamber. Instead, we would go through the whole election process again in 2028, the year Vance is currently supposed to run for reelection to another full term.
Ohio's past with Senate appointments is a bit messy. In 1974, Democratic Gov. John J. Gilligan chose Howard Metzenbaum to fill the vacancy left by Republican William Saxbe, who had resigned to become U.S. Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. No special election was held since Saxbe's six-year term was up anyway, but Metzenbaum lost the Democratic primary to former astronaut John Glenn, who won the November race and went on to hold the seat for the next 24 years.
However, Metzenbaum would return in 1976, besting incumbent Republican Sen. Robert Taft Jr. in that year's general election for the state's other Senate seat. Rather than stay for the remainder of his term until January of 1977, Taft chose to step down six days early and Metzenbaum was appointed to replace him since he was set to take office anyway, marking the last time a U.S. Senator from Ohio would leave office before his time was up. Metzenbaum would serve for 18 years until retiring in 1994, and was ironically succeeded in the Senate by Mike DeWine.
For the last special election for U.S. Senate in Ohio? You'd have to go all the way back to 1953, when Taft's father Robert A. Taft Sr. died in office while serving as Senate Majority Leader. The seat remained vacant until Nov. 10, when Democratic Gov. Frank Lausche chose Cleveland Mayor Thomas A. Burke as Taft's replacement. A special election was then held in 1954 with Burke securing the Democratic nomination, but he lost in November to Republican former U.S. Rep. George H. Bender, who took office on Dec. 16 two weeks after Burke chose to step down.
One last twist? Bender only served about two years before he was required to run in the next regular Senate election in 1956. Like Burke, he was able to secure his party's nomination, but his time in the upper chamber ended abruptly when he was defeated by the Democratic challenger... Gov. Frank Lausche.
Vance currently holds Ohio's "Class 3" Senate seat, which has been in Republican hands since the election of former Cleveland mayor and Ohio Gov. George Voinovich in 1998. Voinovich served two terms before passing the torch to Rob Portman, who after 12 years of his own gave way to Vance.