COLUMBUS, Ohio – Governor Mike DeWine has appointed Andy Wilson as Ohio Attorney General, installing his own Director of Public Safety into one of the most powerful law enforcement positions in the state after Dave Yost abruptly announced he is leaving office two months early to take a job with a Christian conservative legal organization.
Yost’s resignation, announced May 7 and effective June 7, came after his political ambitions collapsed. Yost entered the 2026 governor’s race and was quickly brushed aside when the Ohio Republican Party threw its weight behind Vivek Ramaswamy, and President Trump followed. Yost quietly suspended his campaign and has since kept a low profile. He is now leaving for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative legal group, where he will serve as vice president of Strategic Research and Innovation — departing before his term ends.
Wilson — a career DeWine loyalist who has served in the administration since 2019, first as senior advisor for criminal justice policy and most recently as Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, overseeing nearly 4,000 employees and a $2.5 billion biannual budget.
In 2020, DeWine appointed Wilson to assist the Pike County Prosecutor’s Office in the case against four members of the Wagner family accused of murdering eight members of the Rhoden family in 2016. Wilson was involved in securing guilty pleas from two members of the Wagner family and participated in the trial that convicted George Wagner IV.
Wilson will serve as attorney general until the end of Yost’s term in January. Republican nominee Keith Faber, who won the primary, will face the Democratic nominee in the November 3 general election.