Leaders can learn from Mike DeWine’s gravity-defying political career

Here is an underreported story about a high-ranking official who has defied political gravity. Over the last 49 years, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), age 79, has been elected and reelected to seven prestigious county, state and federal offices. Despite two setbacks, he kept moving on and up.

DeWine won his first election as Greene County Prosecutor (1977 to 1981). He then served in the Ohio state Senate (1981 to 1982), the U.S. House of Representatives (1983 to 1991), as Ohio lieutenant governor (1991 to 1995), and in the U.S. Senate (1995 to 2007), where he lost his first bid in 1992 and was later defeated in 2006, while seeking his third term. Undeterred, DeWine was elected Ohio attorney general (serving from 2011 to 2019) and then governor (from January 2019 to until this coming January, term-limited).

Outside Ohio, DeWine is barely known, but his electoral record is unlikely to be matched by any politician. He shared his lessons, telling me, “My biggest regrets are when I didn’t have all the facts or didn’t drill down deep enough before making an informed decision.” The governor cautioned, “It is important to acknowledge that you aren’t always the expert, find the experts who can give you the data you need, and listen to those you want to lead and encourage them to come up with ideas.”

It remains unclear whether DeWine will be succeeded this November by Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, whom he has endorsed, or by Democratic physician Amy Acton. Even in Ohio, where President Trump won by 11 points in 2024, the political forecast is cloudy, with a chance of Republican defeat.

Moreover, the prospect of Republicans losing control of the Senate looms over a special election between Sen. Jon........

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