Spending in the race topped an unprecedented $100 million
Tuesday’s Ohio governor election pits Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate, against Democrat Amy Acton, the state’s former COVID-era health director. Neither candidate has held elective office, and both are seeking to succeed a term-limited governor who has spent five decades in politics. Acton’s victory would make her the first woman and the first Democrat elected Ohio governor in two decades; Ramaswamy, whom President Donald Trump endorsed, would become the first Indian-American to hold the office.
Spending in the race topped an unprecedented $100 million. Ramaswamy and his allies significantly outraised and outspent Acton and the Democrats, but they failed to pull out the insurmountable lead initially expected in a state Donald Trump had won convincingly three times.
Tuesday’s outcome could depend heavily on Democrats’ stepped-up campaign to regain support for Acton and other Democrats in rural Ohio counties, which have turned sharply Republican in the decade since Trump entered the nation’s political scene.
Acton consolidated Democratic support by running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Many Democrats were initially reluctant to back her as they awaited an announcement from former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who ultimately decided to run for U.S. Senate, but they quickly coalesced behind Acton. Libertarian Donald Kissick, a Navy veteran who did two tours in the Middle East, also appears on general-election ballots.
Despite this being Acton’s first run for elective office, she entered the race as one of Ohio Democrats’ most recognizable names because she was the state’s health director during the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ramaswamy has made Acton’s pandemic response a key point of attack, saying she harmed the state by being too aggressive in shutting schools and businesses.
Both campaigns put economic issues at the heart of their campaigns, offering different economic proposals. Ramaswamy presented his success in business as something he could replicate as Ohio’s governor, with the stated purpose of “putting more wealth in people’s pockets.” He proposed phasing out Ohio’s income tax, rolling back property taxes, cracking down on Medicaid fraud and requiring AI data centers to pay neighboring residents’ electricity bills.
Acton, who described spending a portion of her childhood homeless, called Ramaswamy a “self-serving billionaire.” She said his frequent use of a private jet for campaign stops and a trip to Paris on July Fourth showed that he was out of touch with the financial struggles of average Ohioans. Her affordability agenda targeted tax cuts and credits for middle- and lower-income residents, and she said she would direct taxes collected from wealthier Ohioans toward improving schools, lowering healthcare costs and other priorities. Acton said any new data centers must cover their own utility costs, use all-union labor and not pave over farmland.
In the closing weeks of the race, Ramaswamy ran a 60-second advertisement featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. Initially leaked online, the spot was quickly claimed by Ramaswamy, who defended it as “a fair criticism of a pattern of deception by Acton that was being inaccurately spun by Democrats and the media as questioning whether she was abused as a child.”
The advertisement featured Arthur calling her daughter “a liar” with a “serious problem” with being honest about her past, and she urged Ohioans not to vote for Acton. Arthur had been estranged from Acton for decades. She lost custody of her children after her husband, the children’s stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton from ages 9 to 12 before pleading not guilty and fleeing the state before he could be tried. Acton said she last saw her mother at a courthouse in 1978.
The advertisement drew condemnation from politicians across the country and prompted bipartisan backlash. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended Ramaswamy, and Trump expressed jealousy that he had never had the opportunity to run such an attack against a political rival. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who had endorsed Ramaswamy, denounced the advertisement and called for Ramaswamy to take it down. Acton benefited from a late surge in fundraising after Ramaswamy began running the spot.
It was not the first time during the campaign that DeWine had sided with Acton, a former member of his cabinet, over Ramaswamy, whom he had endorsed. The governor also took Acton’s side when Ramaswamy criticized her actions during the pandemic, saying she merely carried out DeWine’s instructions.
Ohio Republicans unified around Ramaswamy’s candidacy early. The Associated Press attributed that early coalescence to his high profile, wealth and proximity to Trump. His path was facilitated by DeWine, who appointed the leading Republican contender for governor at the time, then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat JD Vance vacated to become vice president. The party’s decision to endorse a newcomer to Ohio politics left veteran Republicans, including the attorney general and state treasurer, scrambling to adjust their own plans, and it wasn’t long before the move prompted some anxiety within the party.
Ramaswamy faced a primary challenge from Casey “The Car Guy” Putsch. The Associated Press described Putsch as a vehicle designer and YouTube provocateur whose $130,000 campaign attracted nearly 18% of the Republican vote, and reported that he directed veiled ethnic and religious attacks at Ramaswamy, who is Hindu.
Ramaswamy and Republicans also appealed to voters in those rural areas, where many were dissatisfied with data centers, high gas prices and the war in Iran. The race was heading into Tuesday with two newcomers, unprecedented spending and the advertisement featuring Acton’s mother at the center of the contest.