DeWine was born on January 5, 1947 in Springfield, Ohio. He studied at Miami University and at Ohio Northern University. He is married to Frances Struewing. A political veteran with a long career in Ohio politics, DeWine's first big office was a state senate seat, which he entered in 1981. After terms in the United States House of Representatives and a term as the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, he won a United States Senate seat, replacing Howard Metzenbaum. However, in 2006, DeWine lost the seat in a landslide to Sherrod Brown.