COLUMBUS, Ohio — JD Vance will be Ohio’s next United States senator.

What You Need To Know

  • Republican JD Vance beat Democrat Tim Ryan in Ohio’s closely watched U.S. Senate race

  • Vance coupled his personal story with Donald Trump’s endorsement to succeed in the competitive campaign

  • Ryan’s loss ends his 20-year career in Congress

  • Ohio will remain one of a handful of states with one senator from each party

The Republican beat Democrat Tim Ryan on Tuesday night, keeping retiring Sen. Rob Portman’s seat in GOP hands.

“I cannot say thank you enough,” Vance told supporters at the Ohio GOP watch party in downtown Columbus. “We need better leadership in Washington, D.C., and that’s exactly what I will promise to fight for every single day.”

Vance entered the race in July 2021, hoping the celebrity from his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and a newfound pledge to be loyal to former President Donald Trump would catapult him out of a crowded Republican primary field.

Aided by $15 million in financial support from tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Vance trudged through the six-person primary and eventually landed Trump’s endorsement, despite being a onetime critic.

It paved the way for him to win the May primary, which set Vance up for a race against 10-term Congressman Tim Ryan.

The Mahoning Valley Democrat defied expectations by keeping the race close in polling and fundraising throughout the summer and early fall.

Ryan campaigned aggressively in every corner of the state, pledging to be an independent Democrat and hoping to win back at least some Trump supporters by talking up the times he agreed with the former president.

But Ohio’s gradual lean to the right in recent years proved too much to overcome. Ryan was down by eight points early Wednesday morning.

“When I called JD to concede, I told him, I said you have got to take care of the working-class people in this country,” Ryan said in his concession speech in Youngstown. “Because the working-class people have been forgotten.”

Vance heads to Washington in January to take over for Portman, a mild-mannered dealmaker known for seeking bipartisan policy deals on Capitol Hill.

Portman initially endorsed one of Vance’s opponents, but then backed him in the general election.

Vance notably did not mention Trump in his victory speech on Tuesday night.

At a campaign stop on Monday, he explained his view of Portman.

“I certainly hope to be a senator in that mold,” Vance told Spectrum News. “Because look, we have a lot of problems and I’m not running for the United States Senate to sit there and warm a seat and to go on TV. I’m running for Senate so that I can hopefully solve the problems.”

With Vance’s win, Ohio will remain one of a handful of states with one senator from each party.

Democrat Sherrod Brown’s current term ends in 2024.