FILE - Ohio attorney general Dave Yost speaks during a rally for Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in Middletown, Ohio, Monday, July 22, 2024. On Friday, Yost dropped out of the race for Ohio governor. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon, File)

With the Ohio Republican Party and several statewide officeholders backing Vivek Ramaswamy for governor, Attorney General Dave Yost quit the race, saying he doesn’t see a path to victory.

In a statement Friday, Yost wrote that it is “apparent that the steep climb to the nomination for governor has become a vertical cliff. I do not wish to divide my political party or my state with a quixotic battle over the small differences between my vision and that of my opponent. I am simply not that important.”

Yost’s statement doesn’t mention Ramaswamy by name even once. But it came exactly a week after the party’s state central committee endorsed Ramaswamy for governor in the 2026 election.

Yost wrote: “I’ve spoken at length with many people whose advice and wisdom I respect, and I haven’t come to this decision quickly or easily. I am especially grateful to those who have pledged to climb the vertical cliff with me anyway, pitons and ropes. And thank you to those of you who have prayed with and for me in this hour.”

Yost’s term as attorney general ends in early January 2027.

“I will continue to fight for Ohio during that time — and I suspect that this is not my final chapter,” he wrote.

Ramaswamy said: “Congratulations to (Yost) on running a thoughtful campaign. He has served Ohio with dedication, and he will continue to play an important role in shaping our state and our nation.”

The Ohio Republican Party’s state central committee’s May 9 decision to endorse Ramaswamy was the final nail in the coffin for Yost’s struggling gubernatorial bid.

The party’s vote was 51-13 in favor of endorsing — considerably more than the two-thirds majority needed for the decision. In the endorsement vote, Ramaswamy won 60-3 with one abstention.

After the vote, Emily Hottinger, Yost’s campaign manager, said, “The attorney general is going to take a few days to consult with key supporters about the path forward — but the people of Ohio deserve a choice, not a premature coronation of an untested candidate.”

The party’s endorsement was almost a year before the May 5, 2026, Republican primary — the earliest it ever endorsed a nonincumbent for governor.

President Donald Trump, who exerts a tremendous amount of influence over Ohio Republicans, endorsed Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur, only a few hours after the latter announced Feb. 24 he was running for governor.

Ramaswamy picked up numerous other endorsements, including Treasurer Robert Sprague — who quit the governor’s race before Ramaswamy officially announced — as well as U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and several Republican state legislators.

Ramaswamy, who’s never held elected office but briefly ran for president last year, also has a huge lead in early polling.

Gov. Mike DeWine unsuccessfully tried to stop the Republican Party from endorsing his successor this early. DeWine wants Jim Tressel, who he selected as his lieutenant governor on Feb. 10, to run for governor.

Tressel, a former Youngstown State University president and head football coach at YSU and Ohio State University, said people have asked him to run, but he hasn’t made a decision.

During an April 22 visit to Warren, Yost said he had no plans to quit the race and was holding out hope Trump would back him just like he’s already done for Ramaswamy. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Yost also said during that stop that he had planned to retire from public office after his attorney general term ended but was “encouraged by people to offer an alternative” for governor.

The only other declared Republican candidate for governor is Heather Hill, a virtual unknown.

Dr. Amy Acton, DeWine’s health director during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the lone declared Democratic candidate for governor.

Tim Ryan, who represented the Mahoning Valley in the U.S. House for 20 years, said he will have a decision on a possible governor bid in a few months.