Ohio’s new Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel isn’t an official political candidate.
But that isn’t stopping him from playing the field ahead of the 2026 election.
The Cuyahoga County Republican Party announced Monday that Tressel, the former Ohio State University football coach, will headline the county GOP’s annual Lincoln Day fundraising dinner on June 5.
Lisa Stickan, chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, said the party tapped Tressel because of his popularity and background, including his past stint as president of Youngstown State University.
She said she expects Tressel will discuss his work for Gov. Mike DeWine. It’s not unusual for the local party to book sitting statewide elected officials.
“He’s not speaking as a candidate,” Stickan said. “He’s speaking as our lieutenant governor. …He’s new to the role. He has a lot of history with Ohio at different levels.”
The Cuyahoga County GOP is the latest county party to snag a commitment from Tressel to headline a similar event. Local Republican Parties in Darke, Medina and Franklin County are among those that have announced they’ve booked him for their upcoming Lincoln Day dinners. The speaking engagements come a couple months after DeWine, who can’t run for reelection because of term limits, picked Tressel to assist him during his final years in office. Tressel replaced Jon Husted, whom DeWine appointed to a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.
A Tressel spokesperson declined to provide an immediate comment for this story.
The ‘rubber chicken dinner’ circuit
Typically, making the rounds at these types of county fundraising dinners is a rite of passage for any state political candidate, particularly for Republicans. Doing so helps them schmooze with the state’s most active party members and build a network of contacts they can call on for a campaign down the road. Vivek Ramaswamy, the frontrunner in the Republican primary for governor — who carries many big-name endorsements, including President Trump’s — is booked to keynote Lincoln Day dinners in 30 counties this year, according to his campaign.
But Tressel, whose term will end when DeWine leaves office at the end of 2026, has punted repeatedly when asked about his future political plans, saying merely that his focus is on learning the ropes of his current job.
These noncommittal responses, plus Tressel’s upcoming stops on the county GOP fundraiser circuit, have left the window cracked for him to run for governor. And if nothing else, his speaking tour has fueled gossip and speculation among the state’s political operatives, candidates and media members.
Ramaswamy and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost are the two major Republican candidates running for governor.
Darke GOP chair looks for different crowd
Katie Deland, chairwoman of the Darke County Republican Party, acknowledged in an interview the possibility that Tressel is making the rounds as a way to test the political waters.
“The governor, he’s smart about politics. So maybe this was a maneuver,” Deland said. “But I’m reading it as face value. Jim Tressel brings a lot to the table in terms of leadership and uniting people, and that’s a good way to end the administration.”
Deland said she reached out to Tressel – completely coincidentally, she said – shortly before DeWine picked him as his lieutenant governor.
She’d thought of Tressel as an “outside-of-the-box,” nonpolitical candidate who could help attract a different crowd. And the Darke County GOP already had recently booked Ramaswamy, who spoke at their Lincoln Day dinner a couple years ago during his unsuccessful presidential campaign.
Tressel didn’t respond until after he became lieutenant governor. After getting the OK from DeWine, he agreed to speak, according to Deland.
Deland said she expects Darke County voters to enthusiastically back Ramaswamy as the race’s Trump-endorsed candidate. In the meantime though, the reception to Tressel as a speaker has been positive.
“We’ve sold a number of tables and large sponsorships to people who have never ever come to our dinner before,” Deland said. “It’s just what I was intending to do in the first place, which is branch out and bring someone in who would bring some new people into the room.”
