Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday announced the appointment of Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance's Senate seat.

"I'm proud to announce that I have selected [Husted] to serve in the U.S. Senate, replacing Vice President-elect [JD Vance]," he posted.

The appointment came as something of a surprise amid reports that Vivek Ramaswamy was under consideration for the post. Husted is broadly considered an establishment lawmaker in the same camp as DeWine.

Some outlets and analysts had expected DeWine to tap Ramaswamy for the job so as to clear the primary field for Husted to seek the governor's mansion.

But Ramaswamy lost out on the post after disappearing from the web for several weeks in the wake of contentious remarks about the H-1B visa program and on how Americans raised their children.