COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sen. Jon Husted looks on as Vivek Ramaswamy fires up a standing-room-only crowd in Ohio, making the case for why he should be their next governor. It's a speech Husted, just months ago, had expected to give himself.

But Husted’s political path took an abrupt turn in January, when Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. In just days, the longtime lieutenant governor went from a low-profile state office to a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Now Republicans are counting on Husted — who last led a general election campaign of his own in 2014, though he’s appeared on statewide ballots as lieutenant governor — to defend the Senate seat in a race with national implications. Democrats recruited former Sen. Sherrod Brown , Ohio'

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