The Statewide Musical Chairs
Plus, Vivek Ramaswamy picks up key Gubernatorial endorsements and Dave Yost raises serious cash.
As Elon Musk defunds many government contracts, including $8.2 million for the news site Politico, hundreds of protesters acended on the Ohio Statehouse lawn to protest Trump’s policies and to “reject racism, defend equality”. It seems appropriate that this protesting happened in the middle of a workday, considering federal and state employees were just informed they have to get back to work.
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Statewide Musical Chairs process begins
In a surprise twist, current Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, who changed his political campaign committee designation to Governor just a couple of weeks ago, announced in a post on X Wednesday that he’s running for another statewide office: Secretary of State.
In the same vein, Secretary of State and former US Senate candidate Frank LaRose announced his run for state auditor on Thursday morning.
LaRose starts his campagin with current Auditor Keith Faber showing support for his candidacy.
What we’re seeing here is a very expensive game of musical chairs between statewide elected officials. Here’s where the races stands so far:
Current Statewide officials are indicated with a *
Governor
Dave Yost, Ohio Attorney General*
Vivek Ramaswamy, 2024 Presidential candidate (undeclared)
Heather Hill, Ohio MLK Holiday Commissioner
Democrats: Dr. Amy Acton, former Director of the Ohio Department of Health
Secretary of State
Robert Sprague, Treasurer of State*
Niraj Antani, former State Senator
Democrats: Dr. Bryan Hambley, Doctor from the Cincinnati area
Attorney General
Keith Faber, Auditor of State*
Auditor
Frank LaRose, Secretary of State*
Treasurer
N/A
Every office but treasurer has a current statewide vying for it, so it will be interesting to see who gets a seat and who ends up falling behind a new voice in the state.
Vivek Ramaswamy picks up major endorsements
You better get used to hearing the name Vivek Ramaswamy, because he is running for Ohio Governor and he has the backing of major conservative leaders to prove it.
Before Treasurer Sprague announced his aforementioned Secretary of State bid, he endorsed Ramaswamy for Governor in a video posted to X.
As the first statewide official to endorse, Ramaswamy announces with a major head start over fellow candidate AG Dave Yost. However, his endorsements don’t end there. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) issued a statement to Fox News on Monday.
"If Vivek Ramaswamy runs for governor of Ohio (and I hope he does) he will not only win—he will transform Ohio for the better. The results will benefit Ohioans—and Americans—for generations I’m honored to have worked with [Ramaswamy] and I support him wholeheartedly." - Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
Mike Lee isn’t the only senator throwing his support behind Vivek, with Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) mailing in their endorsements as well.
On the contrary, Dave Yost has received one endorsement that I’ve seen, and that is from Ken Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State and Treasurer.
Early fundraising numbers
Attorney General Dave Yost has been traveling the state attending picnics, dinners, galas, and more since winning re-election in 2022. I’ve personally seen him a few times, and his face time with the voters has proven beneficial for his campaign committee’s coffers.
According to a press release reported by Henry Gomez of NBC News, Dave Yost for Ohio brought in more than $1 million in the second half of 2024, before announcing his candidacy. This has lead to Yost beginning the year with $2,463,385.36 on hand. There were no personal contributions (that I found) by Yost in this period. You can read through the contributions here.
At the same time, Dr. Bryan Hambley, a hematology oncologist and Democrat activist, announced his campaign for Secretary of State on January 2. Between January 2nd and 31st, he raised $362,081, according to his financial reports.
If you exclude his personal $30,000 contribution, he raised an average of $10,712.29 every day of January. Looking through the employer line of his contributors, the vast majority of them are people working in the medical field from around the country.
In fact, $90,926 of his donations, 114 total contributors, were from states outside of Ohio, averaging just under $800 per donor. My likely guess is that Hambley is calling in favors from his old friends. I can’t imagine a steady flow of cash, to this degree, to remain over the next 452 days until the 2026 primary.
It’ll be intriguing to see how these numbers end up growing, and to see if Democrats will continue pouring money into an election they lost by 20 points last time.
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