Republican state auditor Keith Faber has announced a move that’s long been expected: he’s running for attorney general in 2026. It’s the latest action in what’s become a game of musical chairs among term-limited Republicans officeholders.
Faber has been auditor since he took office in 2019. Before that, he was Senate President, and served in both the House and Senate.
The attorney general oversees the state's law enforcement agencies and assists them as well as prosecutors. But another function of the state’s "top cop" is to file lawsuits against scammers and fraud and does informal dispute resolution. Faber said he's represented consumers in civil litigation in his private practice. But stressed the law enforcement part of the job in his announcement video, but said protecting Ohioans in both ways is important.
“I don't know that you can say one's a priority over the other. The law enforcement stuff is the area that needs to get the most priority," Faber said in an interview. "One of the most important things we do is make sure that we protect Ohioans. And whether that's protecting them with law enforcement that's properly trained and has the resources necessary to find the bad guys or to catch the people who want to prey on Ohioans as victims, both of those are very important."
On whether he supports President Trump’s pardons of people who attacked Capitol police officers on Jan 6, 2021, Faber said he "wants to get all the details".
“There apparently was some issues with some of those prosecutions and some of the way some of those people were treated," Faber said. "That certainly is more information than what I have. But if you assaulted a police officer, I think that you should have appropriate justice mete out to you.”
Faber wrote on social media on Jan. 6, 2021: “My prayers are with the US Capitol Police. Any individual that storms the capitol building should expect to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Mob violence has only one end: anarchy."
Faber is the first candidate from either party to formally announce a run for attorney general. If he's elected, he'll be the second auditor in a row to immediately move into the AG's office. Current attorney general Dave Yost, who's announced he's running for the Republican nomination for governor, was elected in 2018 after two term as auditor.
