Presidential election 2 years away, but one Ohioan already stumping for votes: Thomas Suddes

Ohioans know that two major-party candidates are competing to become the state's next governor: Dr. Amy Acton, a Bexley Democrat, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an Upper Arlington Republican. What voters may not have notice is that although the next presidential election is two years off, a third Ohioan is also searching for votes – for that national office: a Cincinnati Republican named J.D. (James David) Vance, who's now Donald Trump's vice president. Forget, for now, that in the last, say, 120 years, only three times have vice presidents landed the presidency without a presidential death (or resignation): Richard M. Nixon, in 1968, after an eight-year wait; George H.W. Bush, in 1988, who served one term after Ronald Reagan toddled back to California; and Joseph R. Biden, after a four-year standdown while Trump began his 2017-2020 quest to repeal the Bill of Rights, which resumed when Trump retuned to (what's now left of) the White House last year. There's no necessary reason to assume that Vance, age 42, will be Trump's anointed candidate for 2028's Republican presidential nomination. Forgetting everything else about Trunp, which is close to impossible, the man has been (a) known to change his mind and (b) act on whims. Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens. No question, Vance is IQ-brilliant and eloquent as well, with degrees from Ohio State and from Yale Law School. But Vance has served a grand total of four years in elected office – two years as a U.S. senator from Ohio, then two years as Trump's sidekick. That's not necessarily primo prep for the presidency (although, true also, neither was Trump's career as a developer of schlocky real estate). To an extent, all politicians and candidates are chameleons; if they don't move in the same direction as the winds of popular opinion, their careers don't move at all. At least that's what most of them think as they toss one-time principles in the nearest trash can, and not because their beliefs have changed, but because public opinion – note: opinion, not necessarily fact – has changed. The down-home achiever of Vance's biography, Hillbilly Elegy, isn't the relentless climber Vance has become. That's what ten years of politicking-to-please does to a person. *** National reporters parachuting into Ohio seem to have noticed – correctly – that the comeback bid by former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Bexley Democrat, age 73, appears to be outpacing the quest, at least in apparent activity, by appointed Sen. Jon Husted, an Upper Arlington, Republican age 59, for election in Husted's own right to the Senate seat Vance formerly held. Brown is a ferocious campaigner and seems to be energetically canvassing Ohio for a return to the Senate, where he served for 18 years until Republican Bernie Moreno, of Westlake unseated him in 2024. In one sense, it's understandable that Brown seems to be out-hustling Husted. Brown, who's been in politics since the 1970s seems to enjoy campaigning, not a trait every candidate has. The sovereign people can be noble in the abstract, but rude face to face. Whether Ohioans keep Jon Husted in the Senate or return Brown to that chamber, he winner will only serve two years (for a term that'll end Jan 3, 2029) – Vance's unexpired term before he became vice president. One unhappy precedent the Husted campaign may be considering is that, as previously noted here, since 1914, when Ohioans began to directly elect U.S. senators – that year's winner: Marion Republican Warren G. Harding – Ohio voters have, with one (technical) exception, refused to keep appointed Ohio senators in Washington. In any event, that two-year term means the either Husted or Brown will be in a 'Groundhog Day' time loop from this November until November 2028, when a full, six-year Senate term will be on the ballot. Young or old, and regardless of party, that's a grueling prospect for both of this year's candidates, because 2028 will be a presidential year. That'll make it even harder – and costlier – for Ohio U.S. Senate campaigns to be seen or heard among the presidential chaff, an Alberta Clipper of broadcast ads like a snowstorm, covering far more than it can reveal. Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens. To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.