Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted officially dropped his run for governor in 2018, announcing on Thursday that he will become the running mate of Republican primary rival Mike DeWine.
“It’s great to be part of the team,” Husted announced before DeWine and a crowd of supporters at the University of Dayton.
The decision shakes up the Ohio gubernatorial primary in a big way, turning one of DeWine’s main rivals into an ally and creating a team among two men who have raised millions for their respective campaigns.
Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor said Thursday she would not drop out of the governor’s race after the bombshell announcement. Speculation mounted that Taylor, who has lagged DeWine, Husted and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci in campaign cash, would announce she was dropping out of the race.
However, the Kasich-backed candidate said she was continuing her campaign.
“Today’s announcement by my opponent is great news for political consultants and lobbyists,” Taylor said at a press conference in Columbus. “But those aren’t the people I support. I speak for the people. Mike DeWine is the past. I will fight for Ohio’s future. ”
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, the fourth GOP candidate in the race, is still “all in,” according to a campaign spokesman. In a video posted to Twitter on Thursday, Renacci urged Husted supporters who are “disenchanted” with DeWine to give his campaign a look.
“If you still have concerns with Mike DeWine, who has been in Ohio politics prior to Jimmy Carter being elected president, this merger changes nothing,” Renacci said in the video.
DeWine told reporters that the Husted announcement has been in the works for about a week, when mutual friends began talking about it together. DeWine said he offered the job to Husted during a Wednesday breakfast meeting in Columbus.
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