Pat DeWine

DeWine is the eldest of eight children born to Mike DeWine and Frances (née Struewing), and grew up in the Mount Lookout neighborhood of Cincinnati. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, he graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 1994 and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.^[1][2]

DeWine served as a member of the Cincinnati City Council and the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners. He was first elected to city council in 1999, finishing sixth with 27,745 votes in a field of 20 (with the top nine elected).^{[citation needed]} He was re-elected in 2001 (finishing second with 43,191 votes in a field of 26)^{[citation needed]} and in 2003 (finishing sixth with 26,573 votes in a field of 26).^{[citation needed]} He resigned from city council in order to take his seat on the Hamilton County Commission.^[3] Chris Monzel, a Republican who had lost his council seat in the last election, was appointed to fill out DeWine's term on city council.

DeWine was a candidate in the 2005 Republican primary for Ohio's 2nd congressional district special election after Rob Portman resigned to become U.S. Trade Representative. He placed fourth behind Jean Schmidt, Bob McEwen, and Tom Brinkman. His campaign for Congress suffered after allegations of infidelity surfaced against him.^[4]

State judicial career

DeWine sought and won election to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in 2008, defeating Norma Holt Davis in the general election. He subsequently won a seat on the 1st District Ohio District Courts of Appeals in 2012, defeating Bruce Whitman.^[5]

DeWine took his seat on the Appellate bench in January 2013. He won an uncontested Republican primary election in March 2016 for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, and defeated his Democratic opponent for the seat in November of that year.^[6] He was reelected to the Ohio Supreme Court in November 2022 for a second six-year term. Prior to his election as a justice, he was an associate for 13 years with the firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2021, DeWine withdrew from the contest to be nominated as Ohio Supreme Court chief justice in succession to Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor.^[7]

Involvement in legislative redistricting cases

DeWine refused to recuse from a case in which his father, Governor Mike DeWine, was a party,^[8] and helped author the minority opinion that would have upheld an unconstitutional gerrymander approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, on which Governor DeWine sat.^[9]

DeWine's first marriage ended in divorce in 2003.^[3][10] He and his first wife have three sons.^[4] He was married to his second wife, Rhonda, from 2010 until 2019 when she filed for divorce.^[11]