Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to Resign Before Term Ends (1)

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost will step down from his position in June—months before his second term is set to end—to join the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Yost, a Republican, tendered his resignation letter to Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Wednesday and said he’ll resign on June 7, according to a news release Thursday from the governor’s office. His second term is set to expire at the end of the year and he’s barred by the state constitution from seeking a third one.

The attorney general will then take on his new role as Alliance Defending Freedom’s vice president of strategic research and innovation, which involves “expanding ADF’s strategic research capabilities and developing innovative approaches to advancing freedom globally,” according to a news release on the group’s website.

“This is a moment of unprecedented change and uncertainty, and the stakes for our foundational freedoms could not be higher,” Yost said in the release. He also said in a post on X that “I’ve been honored to serve Ohio, and will continue to fight for freedom!”

Kristen Waggoner, the group’s CEO, president, and chief counsel, said Yost “is a proven, bold advocate of First Amendment freedoms who brings decades of government, policy, and litigation experience to the fight for truth—in the courtroom and the public square.”

DeWine (R) is tasked with appointing a replacement to serve the remainder of the term. Columbus-area attorney John Kulewicz, a Democrat, and State Auditor Keith Faber (R) are the nominees for the November election. DeWine said he’s grateful for Yost’s time as an elected official and that he’ll give the selection of the interim replacement “thoughtful and deliberate consideration,” according to his release.

Prior to DeWine’s press release, Faber said in a separate statement that “this is the Governor’s decision and I look forward to having a conversation with him about the best path forward after the AG makes his announcement.”

Yost didn’t respond to requests for comment earlier Thursday.

Conservative Legacy

Yost won a close race in 2018 against Steve Dettelbach, who later served as a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives under President Joe Biden, and romped by 20 points in 2022. A previous state auditor and county prosecutor, Yost had sought to be Ohio’s next governor but dropped out of the race last year after the state Republican Party endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy.

A staunch conservative, his tenure was marked with partisan fights on hot-button issues such as abortion and transgender care for minors. He often signed onto lawsuits challenging Biden administration policies, and led a legal battle against the US Environmental Protection Agency over stringent emissions requirements on power plants and pipelines to stem ozone pollution wandering into downwind states. The US Supreme Court in 2024 put the “good neighbor” rule on hold while underlying lawsuits proceeded.

Yost also occasionally took positions that put him at odds with the GOP. He opposed giving $600 million from the state’s unclaimed property fund to the Cleveland Browns to build a new suburban stadium and has championed Ohio regulators’ work to shut down prediction market Kalshi for operating as an unlicensed sports gambling platform in the state.

More recently, he vowed to retry two former FirstEnergy Corp. executives on multiple corruption charges after a jury failed to reach a verdict; another trial is set for September.

His office is also prosecuting former state House Speaker Larry Householder (R) on charges that in part relate to his allegedly illegal use of more than $750,000 from his campaign to pay for his criminal defense lawyers in a federal corruption case. Householder is already serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for taking $60 million in bribes from FirstEnergy.