Gov. DeWine supports bill to protect Ohio gubernatorial candidates

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has voiced support for a bill that would require Ohio to provide security for the lieutenant governor and for endorsed candidates and nominees for governor upon request from the sitting governor.

Senate Bill 308, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, and Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, was proposed last October after a well-known conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated last September.

If the bill becomes law, it would allocate $10 million for security for the lieutenant governor, the governor-elect, the lieutenant governor-elect, and “certain eligible candidates at the governor’s direction and by request of the candidate.”

People who were endorsed and nominated by political parties, as well as certified independent candidates, are eligible for protection under the bill.

“I’ve not read the bill. I’ve heard about the bill. I support the bill,” DeWine told the Statehouse News Bureau. “We live, unfortunately, in, I would say, a heightened time. But the concerns, I think, about security in regard to public officials should be heightened. That’s just the world we live in today.”

DeWine added that the people who are running for governor “have a high profile,” so it makes “a lot of sense to be able to give them the help that they need.”

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton were previously threatened by political opponents, according to Cleveland.com.

“I don’t want anybody else assassinated. I don’t care what side of the aisle they’re on,” Brenner, who received threats himself, told the news outlet. “I can’t stand Amy Acton, but I could see somebody maybe trying to take her out, let alone Vivek Ramaswamy.”

Around the same time the bill was introduced, the Ohio Elections Commission issued new guidance allowing Ohio political candidates to charge their state campaign accounts for personal security expenses, according to Signal Ohio.

Ohio lawmakers also introduced House Bill 306, which would classify threats on politicians as hate crimes and allow victims to take civil action against the perpetrators, which could result in up to $25,000 in fines.

State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, also introduced Senate Bill 327, also known as the Protect Elected Officials Against Coercion and Extremism, or PEACE, Act, to protect lawmakers’ privacy, hoping to end threats they have allegedly been receiving for the past several years.