Mike DeWine

Richard Michael DeWine (/dəˈwaɪn/ də-WYNE; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1991, and in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2007.

DeWine is a native of Yellow Springs, Ohio. He graduated from Miami University with a bachelor's degree in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University College of Law in 1972. After graduation, DeWine worked as an assistant prosecutor for Greene County and was elected county prosecutor, serving one term. He continued his political career in the Ohio Senate in 1980. He served as a U.S. representative from 1983 until 1991. In 1991, he was sworn in as the 59th lieutenant governor of Ohio, under George Voinovich.

DeWine was elected to the United States Senate in a landslide in the 1994 Republican Revolution. He served in the Senate until his defeat by Sherrod Brown in 2006. DeWine returned to politics four years later and became the 50th attorney general of Ohio, serving from 2011 to 2019. He was elected governor in 2018. During DeWine's first term as governor, a shooting in Dayton prompted him to urge the Ohio legislature to enact new gun control measures, such as expanding background checks and harsher penalties for those in possession of unregistered firearms.

In early 2020, DeWine received national attention for his COVID-19 response, ordering the closing of dine-in restaurant service and sporting events and delegating additional resources to elderly care facilities. He was reelected by a landslide 25% margin against Democratic nominee Nan Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, in 2022.

DeWine was born in Springfield, Ohio, on January 5, 1947, and grew up in nearby Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is the son of Jean Ruth (née Liddle) and Richard Lee DeWine. He was raised and identifies as a Roman Catholic. DeWine earned his Bachelor of Science degree in education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1969 and a Juris Doctor from the Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University in 1972.

At age 25, DeWine started working as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Greene County, Ohio, and in 1976 was elected County Prosecutor, serving for four years. In 1980, he was elected to the Ohio State Senate and served one two-year term.

In 1982, U.S. representative Bud Brown of Ohio's 7th congressional district retired after 18 years in Congress; his father, Clarence Brown, Sr., had held the seat for 26 years before that. DeWine won the Republican nomination, assuring his election in November. He was reelected three more times from this district, which stretches from his home in Springfield to the Columbus suburbs. He ran unopposed in 1986 in what was regarded as a bad year for Republicans nationally.

In 1986, DeWine was one of the House impeachment managers who prosecuted the case in the impeachment trial of Judge Harry E. Claiborne. Claiborne was found guilty by the United States Senate and removed from his federal judgeship.