With JD Vance expected to become the next vice president of the United States, he is expected to vacate his U.S. Senate seat in Ohio.

Once Vance leaves office, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine can appoint someone to fill the seat. DeWine, a Republican who also represented Ohio in the Senate until 2007, supported Donald Trump and Vance.

Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 after being endorsed by Trump in a highly competitive Republican primary. Many polls had Vance trailing in the Republican Party primaries before Trump’s endorsement.

DeWine’s appointee will hold the seat until the end of 2026. In November 2026, a special election will be held to decide who will fill the seat for the final two years of the six-year term.

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DeWine did not say who he would appoint to replace Vance.

“Congratulations to President Donald Trump and our fellow Buckeye and Vice President-elect JD Vance on their election victory,” DeWine wrote on the social media platform part of a new Republican majority in Washington!

With Bernie Moreno defeating three-term incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown on Tuesday, both of Ohio’s Senate seats will be held by Republicans for the first time since 2007.

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Vance will be sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2025. After that, he will be able to serve as president of the Senate and act as a tie-breaking vote as vice president.

His presence as a tiebreaker was perhaps not as necessary as that of his predecessor. While the U.S. Senate has remained almost evenly divided over the past four years, Vice President Kamala Harris received a record 33 decisive votes as vice president.

Vance will become the third vice president of the last four to resign from the Senate to take office. In 2021, as Harris became vice president, Alex Padilla was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to serve almost the remainder of Harris’ term. He won a special election in 2022 to conclude the final two months of the six-year term. He also won a full six-year term in the Senate.

In 2009, Ted Kaufman was chosen to fill the Delaware seat left by Joe Biden. Kaufman chose not to run in the 2010 special election to finish Biden’s Senate term. Democrat Chris Coons ended up winning a special election in 2010 to complete the final four years of Biden’s term. Coons has since been re-elected in 2014 and 2020.