David Anthony Yost (born December 22,1956)[1] is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the 51st attorney general of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party,Yost previously served as the state auditor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019.
During his tenure as Attorney General,he supported attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,which was won by Joe Biden. He has played a key role in defending an Ohio abortion law that prohibits abortion six weeks into a pregnancy (before many women know they are pregnant) without exceptions for rape or incest.[2] In 2022,he was involved in a public controversy over a child rape victim who traveled from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion to avoid carrying the rapist's child.[3]
House Bill 6 FirstEnergy nuclear bailout:actions,efforts and controversies
House Bill 6,a 2019 energy law that provided subsidies for two nuclear plants and certain coal facilities,became the subject of what federal prosecutors described as the largest bribery case in Ohio history,involving former House Speaker Larry Householder,FirstEnergy Corp.,and associated entities.[4] In 2019,Yost approved ballot summary language for a proposed referendum backed by opponents of HB 6,allowing petitioners to begin collecting signatures to try to overturn the law.[5]
After federal charges were announced in 2020,Yost filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court seeking to block collection of nuclear bailout fees from ratepayers and to prevent the owner of the plants from receiving subsidies under HB 6.[6][7] In a 2021 news release,his office said those efforts to halt and roll back HB 6-related charges had “systematically derail[ed] the corruption embedded in House Bill 6”and estimated the actions would save Ohioans nearly $2 billion over the life of the law.[8] In 2024,Yost announced state felony indictments against former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder,former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chair Sam Randazzo,and former FirstEnergy executives Charles “Chuck”Jones and Michael Dowling in connection with the HB 6 scheme.[9][10]
Yost’s handling of HB 6 has also drawn criticism. During the 2023 federal racketeering trial of Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges,text messages introduced by prosecutors showed Borges telling another lobbyist that Yost privately regarded the proposed bailout as a bad bill but did not publicly oppose it because of support he had received from FirstEnergy,the law’s main corporate beneficiary.[11] In October 2020,Yost said he would donate $24,208 in campaign contributions from FirstEnergy and Borges to charity following the federal HB 6 arrests.[12] In later coverage of state-level HB 6 prosecutions,Yost declined to answer detailed questions from reporters about what he knew regarding the dark-money operation or what assistance he may have provided to Borges,citing ongoing cases;commentators noted that his office had previously acknowledged he was identified as a possible witness in HB 6 proceedings.[13][14]
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade,Yost filed a successful motion to dissolve the injunction on Ohio's six-week abortion ban.[24] On June 24,2022,Yost tweeted that "The Heartbeat Bill is now the law." He released a video statement on YouTube the same day in which he said,"This decision returns abortion policy to the place it has always belonged:to the elected policies branches of the governments."[25]
Yost's son and daughter-in-law publicly criticized his actions in messages on Facebook on June 24 and 25,the former saying,"[T]he lack of pro choice is blatantly against what this country says it is on its banners and documents. The land of the free doesn't seem so free right now."[26]
On June 30,2022,shortly after the ban became effective,a 10-year-old rape victim who was "six weeks and three days" pregnant traveled from the Columbus area to Indianapolis,Indiana,to get an abortion to avoid carrying her rapist's child.[27][28][29] The incident was widely reported,beginning with an article in the Indianapolis Star newspaper on July 1,and was mentioned by President Joe Biden on July 8 in comments at the White House.[30] On July 11,Yost disputed the report,saying that neither his office or the state crime lab had any information on the matter,and that his staff had heard "not a whisper" about it;in an interview on July 12,Yost said it was "more likely that this is a fabrication".[31] That day,the report was confirmed by the Columbus Division of Police and a rape suspect was arrested.[32]
On July 14,Yost's office shared a backgrounder with media and on Twitter[33] which listed specific exceptions contained in Ohio's "Heartbeat Law",and suggested,as had Yost in interviews on July 11,that the 10-year-old girl would have been able to obtain a legal abortion under those exceptions. The Ohio Legislative Commission said that nothing in the language of the law explicitly includes the age of the person seeking an abortion as a qualification for exception,and that it was unclear whether the girl would have qualified for a legal abortion.[3][34] The following week,Yost rejected calls from the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party and others for his resignation.[35]
Attempt to invalidate 2020 presidential election results
In September 2019,Yost was one out of nine state attorneys general that launched an antitrust investigation into Facebook and Google,to investigate whether or not they were stifling competition in their respective fields.[44][45]
Voting laws
Yost was sued by a coalition of civil rights groups,including the A. Philip Randolph Institute,the state NAACP chapter,and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative,in February 2024 after his second rejection of a petition for a proposed constitutional amendment,entitled the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights,that would appear on the ballot in the 2024 elections. The amendment would introduce the automatic registration of voters,discard recent additions to voter identification requirements,and increase ballot drop boxes. After rejecting the first petition in December 2023,Yost's office rejected it for a second time the following month,finding that the amendment's title was "highly misleading and misrepresentative" of its content.[46][47]
Refusal to permit Joe Biden on the 2024 ballot
In 2024,Yost refused to grant provisional approval for placing Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee on Ohio ballots for the 2024 presidential election. Ohio is one of few states in the United States that has a ballot certification deadline prior to the Democratic National Convention. In 2020,both the Republican and Democratic national conventions were after the ballot certification deadline,but lawmakers provided provisional approval for the candidates to be on the ballot.[48]
After the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Ohio Attorney General (R) Dave Yost wrote a letter to the presidents of 14 public, four-year universities in Ohio—including Ohio State University—advising them to "warn" students about an anti-Ku Klux Klan law passed in 1953, which could be used to prosecute students who commit misdemeanors while wearing face coverings (including COVID-19 masks) with felony charges. Yost said: "In our society, there are few more significant career-wreckers than a felony charge... I write to you today to inform your student bodies of an Ohio law that, in the context of some behavior during the recent pro-Palestinian protests, could have that effect". The section of the law he was referring to states that two or more people who commit misdemeanors while wearing masks or disguises is punishable by fourth-degree felony charges, up to $5,000 in fines, and five years on community control.[49]
Ohio legal expert Rob Barnhart noted he'd "never heard of the state's law being applied previously, even to bank robbers wearing masks".[50] The American Civil Liberties Union denounced Yost, stating "in today's world of constant surveillance, people protesting should have the right to wear a mask".[50]
Yost's letter also urged compliance with Ohio's anti-BDS statute, Ohio Revised Code § 9.76, reminding presidents that state agencies—including public universities—are barred from boycotting Israel or contracting with companies that boycott Israel.[49][51]
Yost and his wife Darlene live in Franklin County, Ohio. They have three children and four grandchildren.[54]
Yost and Republican lawmaker Kevin D. Miller were the targets of swatting phone calls in December 2023 after false reports of shootings at their homes were made to the police.[55]
▌2 Unknown (2 territories) An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity. State abbreviations link to position articles.
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