CLEVELAND — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed Friday he plans to run for re-election as governor in 2022.
When asked if he would accept an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, DeWine said he would.
“Well, sure," said DeWine, who had no second thoughts on the matter, even when asked if he would want to distance himself from Trump given his response to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
"My experience has been, and you have covered politics for a few years, that endorsements are interesting, but ultimately people make a decision of who they want to be their governor or senator, and I’m not sure that endorsements play such a huge role."
DeWine did say that Trump, who he hasn’t spoken to since the riots, should have done more on Jan. 6.
“He should have done more," DeWine said. "No one was happy about that day. It was one of the saddest days I’ve ever seen."
In the past year, in particular, DeWine said he's been called names because of his response to the pandemic, even some from his own party, but he said he doesn't take it personally.
"Look this is the political season. They are running in the primary. I've been called so many things in my career, particularly in the last year. It’s politics. My focus has to stay on Ohio and getting us through this pandemic and moving on," he said.
During his City Club interview, DeWine reflected on the past year of the pandemic, including what he would do differently.
"I think we have learned a lot over the last year. The biggest thing we have learned and not just us but everyone, the power of these masks. They have been phenomenally successful. We did not know that. I don’t think medical science didn’t really know that at the beginning of this pandemic," he said.
DeWine said public acceptance was a factor in his approach to creating health orders and mask mandates, especially earlier in the pandemic.
"We had to bring people along. We could only take people as far as they were willing to come because all of our orders virtually depended on self-policing and people actually willing to do it," he said.
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Watch the full interview in the media player above.
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