Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel has announced he will not run for Ohio governor in 2026, leaving Cincinnati Republican Vivek Ramaswamy as the presumptive GOP nominee and likely favorite to win.

In a Facebook post Friday, Tressel — the former Youngstown State University president and Ohio State University and YSU football coach — said that “after considerable thought and prayer,” he and his wife Ellen together have decided not to seek the state’s highest elected office. Tressel called his service alongside Gov. Mike DeWine “the honor of a lifetime.”

Tressel took office as lieutenant governor in February after DeWine named then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to serve the remainder of Vice President J.D. Vance’s term in the U.S. Senate after he became vice president under President Donald J. Trump.

Tressel said in the post that he intends to focus all of his attention on the state’s education and workforce development initiatives.

“I believe that our crucial opportunities in the areas of education and workforce deserve my full attention for the remainder of our term,” he said. “My goal is to help finish the amazing work started by the DeWine-Husted Administration.”

Tressel said in the statement that he also has been working with former Ohio State and NFL wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. to form the Team Tressel Fitness Challenge. The initiative, geared toward K-12 children, seeks to instill good fitness, nutrition and sleep habits into Ohio’s students, “laying the foundation for a brighter future in the classroom, in the workforce, and across every community in the Buckeye State.”

Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said he does not expect any comments in the immediate future about Tressel’s plans when he leaves office in early 2027, or whether he plans to endorse or seek any office alongside Ramaswamy.

In May, Attorney General Dave Yost announced he was ending his campaign for governor, following the early endorsement of Ramaswamy by both the Ohio Republican Party and Trump.

For now, the governor’s race appears to be between Ramaswamy and Youngstown native Dr. Amy Acton, former director of the Ohio Department of Health,

Acton rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, she resigned, following several threats toward her home and family by angry protesters, and citing the unsustainable and unhealthy nature of the schedule she had come to keep during the pandemic.

An Impact Research poll from July showed a statistical dead heat between Ramaswamy and Acton, but the most current polls, from mid-August, show Ramaswamy with a 5% to 10% lead.

Unknown at this time is whether former Democratic U.S. congressman and Niles native Tim Ryan will enter the race to challenge Acton for the nomination.

Ryan spokesman Dennis Willard said it is still under consideration.

“Tim is taking until Sept. 30 to make a decision. At this point he’s seriously considering running for governor,” he said. “He did want to take some time and talk to some people, some organizations and some labor unions that have reached out to him, and he’s talking to his family.”

Ryan said in mid-August that he was giving more consideration to a gubernatorial bid after former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Husted for Vance’s old Senate seat.

Brown — who lost his seat in November to car salesman turned Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno – was rumored to be considering both the Senate and governor’s races. He announced his decision to seek a return to the Senate on Aug. 18. Whoever is elected next year will have to run again in 2028 for a full six-year term.

Ryan represented the Mahoning Valley in Congress — as representative for both the 17th and then newly formed 13th districts — from 2003 to 2023. He lost the Senate race to Vance in 2022 by 6.1%, which was the closest statewide race in Ohio that year. He now lives in Union County and serves as a consultant and advocate for a natural gas organization and for a cryptocurrency group.

Ryan also served as the global business development officer for Westlake, Ohio-based Zoetic Global. In July 2024, Zoetic hosted a ribbon cutting at what was supposed to be its new refrigerant manufacturing plant at 360 E. Federal St, in Youngstown. But in May, the company broke its lease with no notice and is now facing several lawsuits from the property’s landlord and investors.

Willard said Ryan left the company in late 2024 and was not involved with Zoetic at the time its troubles began.

Despite Ryan’s recent political losses, Willard said he believes his friend is the right man for the race.

“I think he ran successfully nine or 10 times for the U.S. Congress, and he ran 10 points ahead of the rest of the ticket in his race against JD Vance, in a very difficult year for Democrats,” Willard said. “That’s the reason a lot of people think he would run a strong race for governor.

He’s got very strong name recognition, and he’s a person who can reach across and get Democratic, Republican and independent votes. And I think he’d be a very strong candidate against the Republican nominee.”

An April poll by Bowling Green State University and YouGov showed Acton leading Ryan 52%-38% in a potential Democratic primary matchup, but whether Ryan or Acton wins the Democratic nomination, it will be an uphill battle to the governor’s mansion.

A Democrat has not won a statewide race for an executive office since Richard Cordray was elected attorney general in 2008. Before that, it was Ted Strickland’s election as governor in 2006.

Cordray lost the job to DeWine in 2010, and went on to become the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Barack Obama in 2012.

Cordray left the post in 2017, during Trump’s first term, to seek the governor’s office, but again lost to DeWine. He later served as the director of the Office of Federal Student Aid under President Joe Biden from May 2021 to June 2024.