The current governor is Republican Mike DeWine (R), who took office on January 14, 2019, and was re-elected in 2022.

After eight years the incumbent is term-limited and ineligible to seek a third consecutive term in the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election.

[12][13] Throughout its 15-year history, Northwest Territory had only one governor appointed by the federal government, Arthur St. Clair.

He was removed from office by President Thomas Jefferson on November 22, 1802, and no successor was named; Secretary of the Territory Charles Willing Byrd acted as governor until statehood.

Since then, it has had 64 governors, six of whom (Allen Trimble, Wilson Shannon, Rutherford B. Hayes, James M. Cox, Frank Lausche, and Jim Rhodes) served non-consecutive terms.

The first constitution of 1803 allowed governors to serve for two-year terms, limited to six of any eight years, commencing on the first Monday in the December following an election.