From Reagan to Trump: The GOP Has Changed — but Mike DeWine Hasn’t

Columbus, Ohio — When Governor Mike DeWine was a junior congressman representing Ohio in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan invited him to fly on Air Force One to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which was in DeWine’s district.

After the plane landed, Reagan told DeWine, “Come on, Congressman, and walk out with me,” inviting him to do something presidents typically do alone or accompanied by the first lady.

“He knew how much it would mean for a young congressman to have news media show us coming off [the] plane together,” DeWine told National Review as he recounted his time with the Gipper. The governor still has the photo of him and Reagan waving and smiling as they disembarked from the plane.