
DeWine expected to name Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill Senate seat vacated by Vance
CNN
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to name Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the US Senate seat recently vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, two sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN.
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to name state Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the US Senate seat recently vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, two sources with knowledge of the decision told CNN. Husted emerged as the favorite over the last few weeks after visiting Donald Trump alongside DeWine at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in December. It was not clear at the time, though, whether Husted had his eye on the Senate or was potentially seeking an endorsement for his expected 2026 gubernatorial campaign. By abandoning his hopes of succeeding DeWine, who is term-limited, and going to the Senate, Husted might have cleared a path for a closer Trump ally: Vivek Ramaswamy. Currently slated to help lead Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency alongside billionaire Elon Musk, Ramaswamy is also believed to be considering a run for governor of his own in Ohio. In the Senate, DeWine’s decision upholds the status quo, with Republicans enjoying a narrow majority after a successful 2024 campaign. Though similar temperamentally, Husted comes from a different tradition of conservatism to Vance, who occasionally overlapped with progressives on populist-infused economic matters. Husted is a fiscal hawk who often touts passing “the most conservative state budget in 40 years” during his time as state House speaker and, in his official biography, says he ran the secretary of state’s office without public funds during his last two years in the post. Still, it was Husted who delivered Vance’s nominating speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last summer. “The man who accepts this nomination,” Husted said of Vance, “accepts with it the awesome responsibility to give wise counsel to the president, to represent America abroad, to preside over the Senate and to be ready to lead our nation at a moment’s notice.”

The Trump White House is demanding that government workers hunt for words like “immigrant” and “diversity” in billions of dollars worth of federal contracts with American companies to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, raising concerns among staff that the contracts could modified or voided.

At least 1 dead and several injured after a private jet crashed into another upon arrival in Arizona
At least one person is dead and several injured after a midsized business jet crashed into another jet as it arrived at Scottsdale Municipal Airport in Arizona Monday afternoon.

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its sweeping freeze on foreign assistance has made it more difficult to track potential misuse of US taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance, meaning it could end up unintentionally going to terrorist groups, according to a new report from the agency’s independent watchdog.