DeWine says the Ohio National Guard will leave D.C., while Cleveland, Columbus have higher crime rates
In January 2026, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine's first stop of the year was to meet with members of the Ohio National Guard who are providing support in Washington, D.C. While visiting with the Ohio National Guard, DeWine presented eight members with a special challenge coin.
Gov. Mike DeWine said that approximately 150 Ohio National Guard soldiers will leave Washington, D.C., this month, while big Ohio cities infamously outperform the capital in the aggravated assault and rape rates.
Last fall, President Donald Trump ordered several states to deploy their guard troops to combat crime in D.C., according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
“The National Guard will be coming home next month,” DeWine told the news source. “They’ll be done in February.”
While the Ohio National Guard was contributing to the alleged decrease in the D.C. crime rates, major cities in Ohio were struggling, specifically with aggravated assault and rape cases, according to the FBI.
The data indicated that from January 2021 to January 2026, Cleveland had more aggravated assault offenses than D.C., and Columbus had more rape offenses than D.C.
According to the Cleveland Police Department’s data pulled by the FBI, there were 18,703 reported aggravated assault cases. Meanwhile, according to the D.C. Police Department’s data pulled by the FBI, there were 13,248 reported aggravated assault cases.
The data from the Columbus Police Department pulled by the FBI also showed that there were 5,621 reported rape cases. On the other hand, the D.C. Police Department’s data indicated that there were 1,126 reported rape cases.
On Sept. 10, 2025, DeWine announced in a press release that he “has agreed to a request made by the Secretary of the Army through National Guard Bureau that the Ohio National Guard continue supporting the District of Columbia National Guard until Nov. 30, 2025.”
“While some of the Ohio National Guard members will be rotated, Ohio will continue to provide 150 military police to carry out presence patrols,” he wrote. “None of these military police members are currently serving as law enforcement officers in the state of Ohio.”
The deployed soldiers’ stay in D.C. was then extended into 2026, according to Cleveland.com.
DeWine previously told Cleveland.com that the job of the state’s National Guard will include just “basic patrol” and protecting federal buildings, adding that they won’t be arresting anyone.
“I wanted a limited, very limited engagement,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned DeWine’s decision to deploy the troops, claiming in a now-deleted statement that he “must not submit to the president’s militarization of our communities.”
“Sending Ohio National Guard troops to support this abuse of power and so fear in D.C. communities is unnecessary, inflammatory, and a serious misuse of our state’s Guard members. Ohioans expect our National Guard troops to be used for true emergencies – like natural disaster response here at home – not policing civilians in another community,” ACLU wrote. “The deployment of the National Guard is an intimidation tactic by an authoritarian administration and Governor DeWine is complicit.”
