COLUMBUS, Ohio — ABC News called Gov. Mike DeWine's win one minute after polls closed in Ohio Tuesday night. The 75-year-old defeated Democratic challenger Nan Whaley, receiving 63% of votes.
"I enjoy campaigning, I have a good time talking with people and traveling all over the state, but it was time for it to be over with and we're very happy with the win," DeWine said. "It was a frankly, bigger win than we thought it was going to be."
He outperformed fellow Republican candidates like Senate race winner J.D. Vance, Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
"I think that if you look across the country and look at people who were successful, particularly governors, what you find is they were people who just rolled up their sleeves and worked. You know, we've focused I think on things in Ohio that people really care about — the education of their children, making sure that you know, every child can live up to their full potential, focusing on the infrastructure ... these are things that I think people can relate to. They affect the quality of life, they affect their families. And I think that's why we won."
DeWine said multiple Democrats come up to him on the campaign trail and tell him they were going to vote for him. He also noted that some Democrats told him they thought he had done a good job, but "can't vote for (him) because of abortion."
"That makes you feel good as well that you're getting people not just from your own party, but you're getting Independents — we have a lot of Independents, and we got a significant number of Democrats," DeWine said.
The governor's past four years haven't been smooth-sailing. While he said he doesn't "look back a lot," DeWine said the pandemic was a "great challenge." He said it's easy to second-guess decisions now, but he said the state made decisions based on what the best scientists told them.
"It was something that we tried to balance every single day — how we keep people working, but at the same time, how we keep people safe? And there was no playbook," DeWine said. "We got the best information that we could and what I did every single day, I'm not saying we got everything right, but every single day, we tried to get the best available information and make the decisions for that day based upon that information that we had."
Gearing up for what will likely be his last term in public office, DeWine said "there's no holding back" for the next four years. He said he is focusing on removing barriers to addressing mental health and addiction. He also spoke about legislation focused on violent crime. There is currently a bill in the statehouse that would bump up the felony charges for gun possession. DeWine said he believes it "will save lives in Cincinnati."
"I'm sick of seeing, reading about, hearing about a 6-year-old or 7-year-old who gets shot because they were in the wrong place," DeWine said. "And somebody was, who wasn't supposed to have a gun anyways, not legally have it, you know, shoots that person."
On Thursday, the governor's office announced DeWine issued reprieves of execution for three people: Charles Lorraine, Gerald Hand and Cleveland Jackson. Their new execution dates were moved to 2026.
DeWine's office said the reprieves are due to "ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide drugs to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC), pursuant to DRC protocol, without endangering other Ohioans." He said Thursday officials are at a standstill after drug companies said using their drugs from lethal injection could risk state hospitals getting any kind of drugs from the company.
For his next four years, DeWine said he will focus on what he can — things like early childhood development or tax breaks.
"(The) governor has the ability to set," DeWine said. "You can't get everything done you want, but the governor has the ability to really determine what the state talks about ... we have the ability to control that debate and then to push our agenda. So I'm excited about looking forward to it."
This story is a companion piece to WCPO 9 News' 1-on-1 with Gov. Mike DeWine. Watch the full interview below.
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