News
Update: Mike DeWine Urges Optimism for Ohio at Inauguration
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
Posted on:
Update 1:40 p.m.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – New Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says he’s beginning his four-year term with great optimism about Ohio’s future and a commitment to hearing others’ ideas and perspectives.
But he told the audience at his Statehouse inauguration Monday not to mistake that for lack of vision or resolve.
DeWine led a GOP sweep of nonjudicial, statewide offices in November to become Ohio’s 70th governor. He succeeds term-limited Republican Gov. John Kasich.
At 72, DeWine is the oldest person elected governor. The former U.S. Senator is among Ohio’s most well-known politicians after decades in elected office, most recently as attorney general.
The first executive orders he signed include one to ban discrimination in state personnel decisions on the basis of gender identity, pregnancy or being a foster parent, among other categories.
Surrounded by family and friends on his farm in Cedarville, Mike DeWine took the oath of office to become the 64th person to serve as Ohio Governor.
DeWine signed six executive orders immediately after taking office, including an anti-discrimination policy for state government employment that added pregnant women, parents of young children, and foster parents as protected classes. That policy also includes gender identity as a protected class, something former Gov. John Kasich just recently added.
Other executive orders created the Office of Children’s Initiatives and RecoveryOhio, an initiative to fight the opioid epidemic.
The longtime Republican politician began his career in public service in 1977 as the Greene County prosecutor. From there DeWine continued to climb going from the state Senate to the U.S. House of Representatives to Ohio’s Lieutenant Governor.
Starting in 1995, DeWine served as one of Ohio’s U.S. Senators for 12 years. When he lost his race to current Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, DeWine returned to statewide politics to run for Ohio Attorney General. He won that office in 2010.
DeWine was elected governor in November by defeating Democrat Richard Cordray.
As Gov.-elect DeWine has assembled a diverse cabinet with many years of accumulated experience. He says among his top priorities will be children’s initiatives, the opioid crisis, and workforce development.