Yost's exit from governor's race still leaves potential wild cards

Saying he didn't want to further divide his party, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dropped out of the race for governor Friday.
The state Republican party is backing MAGA-branded Vivek Ramaswamy instead.

But the curtain hasn't come down on the GOP side just yet.
Current Lieutenant Governor and former YSU president and head football coach Jim Tressel told NBC News last week that he may vie for the top spot.
Former health department director Dr. Amy Acton is the only Democrat running, but that may change sooner than later, too.

"Well there's a lot of people calling and texting," laughed former Congressman Tim Ryan during a stop in his native Niles Friday. Ryan hasn't ruled out stepping into the fray. While he believes places like Cincinnati and Cleveland are doing fine. "so much of the rest of the state is just being left behind and now you're seeing huge cuts to education, huge cuts to rural health, huge cuts to programs that are really essential to building a future for the state, so you know, I'm concerned about that."

Ryan went so far as to say that he can beat Ramaswamy in the right environment.
University of Akron political science professor Dr. David Cohen thinks Ryan is on to something.

"Tim Ryan's gonna jump in," Cohen said. "He's making a lot of noise, I think he sees that 2026 is going to be a very good year for Democrats."

And despite the outside chance former Senator Sherrod Brown will run too, Dr. Cohen thinks the 2026 Ohio governor's race will come down to Ramaswamy Vs. Ryan.

"Let's not forget that until Labor Day in 2022, Tim Ryan was leading the race (for US Senate against JD Vance)," said Cohen. "And that was without any help from the national Democratic party."