Ohio AG Dave Yost launches bid for governor

COLUMBUS (AP) — Republican Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday that he is running to be the next governor of Ohio — wedging the news between the departure from the race of a top rival and the expected entry as soon as next week of a new one. Yost, 68, seeks to succeed two-term Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, who is term-limited in 2026. He had teased his plans in a somewhat ominous black-and-white video posted to the social platform X in November. The formal announcement comes less than a week after DeWine appointed a one-time top contender for the job, former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance — and ahead of an expected campaign launch by Vivek Ramaswamy, the Cincinnati-born biotech entrepreneur who recently left President Donald Trump's federal government efficiency project. Yost appeared Thursday to contrast himself with Ohio politicians working in Washington, D.C. "This is my heart, my home. I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses," he said in a statement. "From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I'm thinking about them and our future." He described himself as "a principled conservative" and advocate for Ohio families, business and taxpayers and said he had worked to advance Trump's agenda at the state level. Among his actions have been joining an anti-trust lawsuit against Google, fighting the Biden administration's border policy, and urging the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved when lower courts restricted access to guns. Yost also brought state-level charges against imprisoned former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others in conjunction with the Justice Department's corruption investigation into a legislative bailout of two nuclear power plants known as House Bill 6. One of the men the state charged, former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo, had pleaded not guilty before dying by suicide. In announcing his gubernatorial bid, Yost said the state's prosecution saved Ohio taxpayers more than $1 billion. As the state's attorney, he has also defended laws that prohibited transgender girls from participating in girls' sports and prevented minors from getting gender transition surgeries. "After receiving a groundswell of support from voters across the state and much prayer and consultation, I am answering the call to duty," Yost said. "I will be faithful. I will not falter, and I will not fail." Democrats cast Yost's policy positions as extreme. The Ohio Democratic Party pointed to Yost's appeal last year of an Ohio law banning most abortions after cardiac activity is detected — filed despite voters' approval of a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights in the state. They also cited Yost's early contention that the case of a 10-year-old rape victim who had sought an abortion in neighboring Indiana after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling was struck down might have been a fabrication. He later lamented suffering caused by the error. Party spokesperson Katie Seewer also questioned how tough Yost was on FirstEnergy Corp., the Akron-based energy giant at the center of the $60 million House Bill 6 bribery scheme, citing the $20 million settlement deal the state struck with the company allowing it to avoid prosecution. "At every turn, Yost has ignored Ohio voters at the expense of special interests and extremists in his party," she said in a statement. "Now, he wants the same voters he ignored to send him to our state's highest office. Yost said he's ready to offer voters a choice, and we're ready to make sure Ohioans don't choose him." Dr. Amy Acton, the former Ohio health director who helped the state through the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is running for governor as a Democrat. Yost was first elected attorney general in 2018 and reelected in 2022. He had previously served two terms as state auditor. Before entering state politics, he served as Delaware County prosecutor, was a lawyer in private practice and worked as a journalist.