Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said Thursday he will resign his U.S. Senate seat from Ohio at midnight before his inauguration later this month.
President-elect Donald Trump and Vance defeated Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the November 5 US election.
Vance’s Senate seat will be filled by an appointee of Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine. The replacement will serve until a special election is held in November 2026. The winner of that election will serve the remainder of Vance’s Senate term, which ends in January 2029.
In his resignation letter to the Governor of Ohio, Vance wrote that “serving the people of Ohio in the Senate over the past two years has been a tremendous honor and privilege.”
Republicans won slight majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the November elections.