Gov. Mike DeWine has picked Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson to fill in the rest of the term of Attorney General Dave Yost.
Andy Wilson had been DeWine's Senior Advisor for Criminal Justice Policy in his first term. DeWine moved Wilson up to Public Safety Director in December 2022, when Tom Stickrath retired.
Yost announced last week he was leaving the AG's office to join the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom as its Vice President of Strategic Research and Innovation. Yost is term limited and wasn't running for any other office, after dropping out of the race last May.
Wilson will hold the office until January, when Yost's term expires. DeWine could have appointed Auditor Keith Faber, who is running for AG. But that would have set off a chain reaction, as Secretary of State Frank LaRose is running for auditor, treasurer Robert Sprague won the Republican primary for secretary of state on Tuesday, and former Rep. Jay Edwards also just won the GOP nomination for treasurer.
Yost had planned to run for attorney general in 2010, but left that race as DeWine got into it. Yost ran for auditor instead, and he and DeWine both won. Yost served two terms in that office before he was elected to his first term as attorney general in 2018.
