Ohio GOP Civil War: Jack Windsor Details Power Struggle Among Republicans Over 2026 Gubernatorial Race

Jack Windsor, president and editor-in-chief at The Ohio Press Network, said businessman and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid to be the next governor of the Buckeye State has displayed how the Ohio Republican Party is deeply split between the “old guard” and the “new guard.”

In February, Ramaswamy officially launched his bid for Ohio governor, joining three other candidates – two Republicans and one Democrat – who have officially thrown their hats into the ring to succeed incumbent Governor Mike DeWine in leading the Buckeye State.

On Friday, the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee (ORP SCC) is expected to vote to endorse Ramaswamy for governor.

ORP SCC member Shannon Burns reported Ramaswamy has the support to be endorsed by the party, despite reports that Governor DeWine is actively lobbying against Ramaswamy’s GOP backing.

On Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Windsor said DeWine’s opposition to endorsing Ramaswamy displays how the Ohio GOP is divided by the “old guard” and “new guard” of Republican politicians.

“You’ve had for several years the old guard – which is the DeWine, Kasich group of people – and then you have the new guard who are the conservative Republicans. Shannon Burns, a longtime state central committeeman, called me last night and said we’ve got the votes to endorse Vivek, however, we were able to determine that the governor, Mike DeWine, was actually pushing against that endorsement. So the big news is DeWine does not want an endorsement right now,” Windsor explained.

Windsor further said DeWine has hinted he is anticipating Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel to enter the gubernatorial race, which he noted would be the candidate who would likely earn the governor’s endorsement; however, believes Tressel would not defeat Ramaswamy or Attorney General Dave Yost in the Republican primary.

“There are many people who are inside Ohio politics who say Tressel would be the guy to do well in a general election because he’s got a reputation in Youngstown. I remind everybody that’s an area where sometimes the Trump vote is split with a Democrat, whoever that would be in this 2026 gubernatorial race. So they felt like Tressel might be a guy who could do well in a general election,” Windsor explained.

“I don’t think he can get out of a primary that involves Ramaswamy and Dave Yost, to be frank,” Windsor added.

With regard to Friday’s vote by the ORP SCC, Windsor said he believes the only variable that would impact the committee advancing its endorsement of Ramaswamy despite DeWine’s disapproval is if Tressel launches a bid for governor before the meeting.

“I do believe that the vote will go through, I think they will endorse Vivek. Here’s my only spoiler – if for some reason DeWine were to get Jim Tressel to come out at say, five o’clock today and say, I’m in this race, that might be something that would give pause to many of those state central committee members to go, all right, wait a minute, we’ve got another factor here. We have to pump the brakes on this. But, I think the endorsement will happen tomorrow,” Windsor said.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Vivek Ramaswamy” by Vivek Ramaswamy and “Gov Mike DeWine” is by Gov. Mike DeWine.