Richard Michael DeWine ( 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, as a United States senator from Ohio from 1995 to 2007, and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1991.
A native of Yellow Springs, Ohio, DeWine graduated from Miami University in 1969 and Ohio Northern University College of Law in 1972. He was an assistant prosecutor in Greene County, Ohio, and served one term as county prosecutor from 1977 to 1981. He continued his political career in the Ohio Senate from 1981 to 1982, and then served four terms as a U.S. representative from 1983 until 1991. From 1991 to 1994, he served as the 59th lieutenant governor of Ohio, under Governor George Voinovich.
DeWine was elected to the U.S. Senate in a landslide during the 1994 Republican Revolution, and sat on the Senate Appropriations; Judiciary; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP); and Select Intelligence Committees. He was reelected in 2000 and defeated in 2006 by Democrat Sherrod Brown. DeWine returned to politics four years later as the 50th attorney general of Ohio. In that office, he challenged the Affordable Care Act and tackled the opioid epidemic. He was elected governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022.
During DeWine's tenure as governor, the 2019 Dayton shooting 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 response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ordering the closing of dine-in restaurant service and sporting events and delegating additional resources to elderly care facilities.
Early life, education, and career
DeWine was born in Springfield, Ohio, on January 5, 1947, and grew up in nearby Yellow Springs. He is the son of Jean Ruth (née Liddle) and Richard Lee DeWine. He was raised and identifies as a Roman Catholic. DeWine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Miami University in 1969 and a Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University College of Law in 1972.
At age 25, DeWine started working as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Greene County, Ohio, and in 1976 he was elected county prosecutor, serving four years.
In 1980, DeWine 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 stretched 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.
DeWine did not seek reelection to the House of Representatives in 1990, and briefly ran for governor, but withdrew before the primaries and instead ran for lieutenant governor as George Voinovich's running mate in that year's Ohio gubernatorial election. The Voinovich–DeWine ticket was easily elected.
In 1992, DeWine unsuccessfully ran for United States Senate against former astronaut and three-term incumbent John Glenn. His campaign used the phrase "What on earth has John Glenn done?", echoing Jeff Bingaman's slogan "What on Earth has he done for you lately?" against former astronaut Harrison Schmitt in the 1982 United States Senate election in New Mexico.
In 1994, DeWine ran to succeed Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who was retiring. He defeated prominent attorney Joel Hyatt, Metzenbaum's son-in-law, by 14 percentage points. DeWine was reelected in 2000, defeating businessman Ted Celeste (brother of former Ohio governor Dick Celeste) by 24 percentage points. Seeking a third term, he was defeated in 2006 by Congressman Sherrod Brown by over 12 points. Before the election, DeWine's approval rating stood at 38%, making him the second-most unpopular senator in the country behind Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who also lost reelection that year. He received 905,644 fewer votes in 2006 than in 2000.
DeWine sat at various points on the Senate Judiciary; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP); and Select Intelligence Committees, and was the first Ohio senator in nearly six decades to serve on the Appropriations Committee. He led the Joint House-Senate Intelligence Committee inquiry into U.S. intelligence failures before and after the September 11 attacks.
DeWine also co-chaired the Senate Great Lakes Task Force; the Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children; and the Senate Global AIDS Crisis Working Group; and was a member of the Senate Drug Task Force. He was the initial sponsor of the Drug-Free Century Act in 1999 and was a member of the Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of senators that in 2005 made a compromise on judicial nominees. He voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein.
After leaving the Senate, DeWine accepted positions teaching government courses at Cedarville University, Ohio Northern University, and Miami University. In 2007, he joined the law firm Keating Muething & Klekamp as corporate investigations group co-chair. He also advised the John McCain 2008 presidential campaign in Ohio.
Attorney General of Ohio (2011–2019)
On July 21, 2009, DeWine announced his candidacy for Ohio attorney general in the upcoming 2010 election. He defeated Democratic incumbent Richard Cordray, 48% to 46%. DeWine was reelected in 2014, defeating challenger David A. Pepper. He carried 83 of Ohio's 88 counties. DeWine's stated goal as attorney general was "protecting Ohio families".