Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said on June 16 that the state should abolish the death penalty. The 79-year-old Republican governor made the announcement at a press conference, according to the Associated Press.

DeWine said research shows the death penalty does not stop people from committing murder — the main reason government officials have long used to defend capital punishment.

This is a major shift. Just three years earlier, in 2020, DeWine had said he still supported the death penalty under Ohio law, even though he had started to have doubts about it. During his seven years as governor, he has delayed executions multiple times. But he had never before called for getting rid of the death penalty entirely.

Ohio has not executed anyone since 2018. Drug manufacturers stopped supplying the drugs used for lethal injection, which made it hard for the state to carry out death sentences. DeWine kept postponing executions rather than finding new ways to execute people. Now he is saying the state should end capital punishment altogether.

DeWine is a Republican in a state that votes Republican in national elections. Calling to abolish the death penalty goes against the national Republican Party's traditional support for capital punishment. But he is not alone. Over the past decade, some Republican governors in other states have also questioned the death penalty. A few states controlled by Republicans, like Wyoming and Montana, have recently considered abolishing it. Their reasons vary — some point to costs, some to cases where innocent people were convicted, and some to doubts about whether it actually prevents crime.

What happens next depends on the Ohio legislature. Republicans control both the House and Senate by large margins, and their leaders have not said they plan to take up abolition. There is another complication: DeWine cannot run for re-election. Under Ohio's constitution, governors can serve only two terms. That limits his power to push lawmakers in a direction they do not want to go. The next governor will not be bound by what DeWine is asking for.

Still, when a sitting governor publicly supports something, it changes how lawmakers think about it. Bills to abolish the death penalty have historically failed in Ohio without the governor backing the idea. That has now changed. Whether the legislature actually votes to end capital punishment is an open question, but DeWine's statement makes that outcome more possible than it was before.