Attorney General Dave Yost is now in the race for the Republican nomination for governor next year, after weeks of teasing a coming campaign.
“The bottom line is, I'm ready," Yost said in an interview. "We've been preparing for this for quite some time—probably the worst-kept secret on Capitol Square—and there just wasn't any reason to wait any longer. I wanted to put my flag in the ground and start running.”
The move comes after Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was appointed to the U.S. Senate, and before billionaire tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy joins the race, as he's expected to do soon.
Yost helped fuel the conversation around his candidacy with a social media post in November with a black-and-white video showing him walking up to the governor’s Statehouse office. On Thursday he reshared that video, now in color, announcing he’s officially in.
The term-limited AG had filed a designation of treasurer form in 2023, suggesting he was considering another statewide run. He started dropping hints about the 2026 race for governor on election night, when he was asked if he would want to replace JD Vance in the U.S. Senate after he was elected vice president.
“I’m an executive," Yost said. I’ve never been a legislator, and I'm not ready to end my public service, but I can’t imagine going to Washington, D.C. I would not accept that appointment.”
Yost said he knows it’s going to be an expensive primary even before a costly election.
“Am I gonna have more money than Vivek? Um, no. But honestly, you don't need the most money, you need enough money and we're going to have enough and then some.”
The 2018 race for governor was the most expensive in state history, with $43.5 million dollars raised by Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Richard Cordray. The 2010 governor's race was the costliest before that, with $30.4 million raised by Republican John Kasich and incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland.
Yost said he’ll focus on economic issues around energy and Ohio’s aging population.
"Ohio is one of the oldest states in the union. We should be looking and governing in a way that's going to drop our mean age," Yost said. "We are not growing as fast as other parts of the country. We should be adding population. That goes to questions about our budget, our workforce, our economic dynamism."
He also said he's concerned about education and wants to "focus on functional literacy for all Ohioans."
Abortion is an issue that's likely to come up, as state laws are challenged in the courts under the state's 2023 reproductive rights and abortion access amendment. Yost, who campaigned against the amendment and has long advocated against abortion rights, said he hasn't changed his position on the issue, but voters approved the amendment in 2023 so it’s the law.
"The only way to change that is for them to change their minds," Yost said. "That's going to be a long, slow road of persuasion, if it happens. It is not going to be a function of the use of government power."
Ramaswamy is expected to kick off his campaign soon. Robert Sprague, who's term-limited as state treasurer, has also filed paperwork indicating he's considering another run for statewide office.
