Ohio attorney general and GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine will be the featured speaker at the Highland County Lincoln Day Dinner on Monday, Feb. 12.

The event will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Hillsboro beginning at 6 p.m., with dinner served at 6:30 p.m.

Paulette Donley, local GOP chair, said many candidates or their representatives will be in attendance.

Tickets at $25 each are available from Donley at 937-402-1866, Peggy Hite at 937-763-8305 or Shawn C. Priest at 937-780-5855. Dinner will be catered by Shoelaces Catering.

DeWine recently tapped Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted as his running mate, after Husted had initially launched a gubernatorial campaign of his own.

Prior to becoming attorney general, DeWine served as Greene County prosecuting attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as lieutenant governor and in the United States Senate.

DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He and his wife, Fran, have resided in Cedarville Township since DeWine graduated from law school. They are the parents of eight children and 23 grandchildren.

According to biographical information on his website, as attorney general, DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators.

His office invested $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair hard-hit communities.

DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence.

He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.