Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel has been pondering a run for governor for months but the former Ohio State football coach announced Friday that he will stay on the sidelines during next year’s election.
Tressel said in a social media post that he’d made his final decision “following considerable thought and prayer.” Previously, Tressel had stopped short of completely ruling out a run for governor, but also had shown no signs that he was preparing to do so.
The decision further cements Vivek Ramaswamy, the Columbus-area billionaire, as the likely GOP nominee for governor in the November 2026 election. First, Ramaswamy will have to win the Republican primary election in May. Tressel declining to run removes what might have been Ramaswamy’s final political hurdle in doing so. Even before the announcement, Ramaswamy’s political team and others in state politics increasingly believed Tressel had no plans to run.
Tressel’s decision also could end up having reverberations in the Democratic race for governor. Tim Ryan, the former congressman and 2022 U.S. Senate nominee, has said he will decide before the end of the month whether he will run for governor next year.
Ryan also had said publicly that he wouldn’t run against Tressel. Ryan is a former high school football star whom Tressel recruited to play at Youngstown State University before Ryan got hurt and quit the sport. Ryan in turn has referred publicly to Tressel as one of his mentors.
Currently, Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director, is the only Democratic candidate in the race.
Tressel has been Ohio’s lieutenant governor since Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to the job in January after DeWine appointed the former lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, to a vacant U.S. Senate seat. Tressel’s term will expire at the end of 2026, when DeWine also will leave office due to term limits. DeWine has not endorsed anyone in the race.
Tressel said in his statement on Friday that he plans to work with state government directors and staff to further cement DeWine’s legacy.
