A Republican who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 is now in the state senate. Jane Timken will represent her Canton-area district in a seat that’s been open for two months.
Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said Timken, the former Ohio Republican Party chair, has been appointed to the seat of longtime lawmaker Kirk Schuring, who died in November. Schuring served more than three decades in the General Assembly and had been fighting cancer for months but kept working, at one point calling his colleagues from his hospital bed.
Timken was newly-elected President Trump’s pick to lead the Ohio GOP when she ousted Matt Borges in 2017. Borges had supported former Ohio Gov. John Kasich as he ran against Trump in the 2016 primary, and had not been an enthusiastic supporter after Trump became the GOP nominee.
Timken resigned in 2021 to run for the U.S. Senate after incumbent Rob Portman announced he wouldn't seek re-election. She got Portman's endorsement as she ran in a seven-way GOP primary in 2022, but lost to Trump-endorsed JD Vance. Timken was said to be on the list of candidates to replace Vance after he resigned from the Senate to become vice president.
Timken, whose husband is the former CEO of Timken Steel and founded a firm that lobbies federal and state government, serves as the Republican National Committeewoman for Ohio. She's held that position since April 2024, taking over for former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, who died late last year.
