New candidate emerges in crowded field as possible replacement for Vances Ohio Senate seat
Republican Gov.Mike DeWine is considering an Ohio attorney and Trump surrogate to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate seat once he vacates the position and moves on to the White House, Fox News Digital has learned. Attorney Mehek Cooke, a Republican attorney who served as a political and legal surrogate for Trump in 2024, is under consideration to be chosen to fill Vance’s seat, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital. Cooke, known as a formidable fundraiser in the state of Ohio, has appeared on Fox News and was a vocal supporter of President-elect Trump during the 2024 campaign, where he won Ohio by 11 points and his endorsement in the state is viewed as carrying a significant amount of weight.State law dictates that Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine will select a Republican to take Vance’s spot in the Senate until a special election is held in November 2026 to determine who will serve the rest of Vance’s term, which ends in 2028.The winner of that special election will then have to run again in 2028 in order to start a new six-year term.Cooke, who ran for Ohio House of Representatives in 2020, spent time as the assistant chief counsel in the Ohio governor’s office from 2012 to 2014 and in the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, where she handled criminal cases involving corruption, terrorism, drug trafficking, asset forfeiture, and money laundering. Cooke, a wife and mother of two, was born in India and immigrated legally to the United States with her family at the age of 5.Cooke is also the founder and President of American Frontier Strategies and has worked as a political consultant and commentator across the state of Ohio. Marty Savko, the chair of the earth moving company Savko & Sons which has been in business in Columbus, Ohio for 75 years, told Fox News Digital that Cooke “is totally 100% in touch with both the average man and wife” in Ohio.“She’s a proud American citizen, she’s proud...