How Ohio’s GOP governor went from pro-death penalty to wanting repeal

Former Death Penalty Supporter Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Urges Abolition of the Death Penalty

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (pic­tured), a Republican, said on June 16, 2026 that he now believes Ohio should abol­ish the death penal­ty. Gov. DeWine helped to write the state’s death penal­ty law while serv­ing as a state leg­is­la­tor in 1981, but has halt­ed exe­cu­tions dur­ing his time as gov­er­nor, cit­ing con­cerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol. In a state­ment, Gov. DeWine described his 50 years of reflec­tion about the dea…

How Ohio’s GOP governor went from pro-death penalty to wanting repeal

In 1981, Gov. Mike DeWine promised to bring the death penalty back to Ohio. Now he wants to abolish it.