Democrat Amy Acton has defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio’s race for governor, according to the Fox News Decision Desk, breaking a Republican hold on the office that stretched back two decades.
Acton campaigned on affordability and public education, pitching herself to voters across party lines while casting Ramaswamy as a wealthy candidate whose policies would mainly benefit people in his own position.
The race took a sharp turn in its final weeks when Ramaswamy’s campaign ran an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, who called her daughter a liar unfit to lead Ohio until she “held herself accountable.” The ad left out key context: Acton had been estranged from her mother since childhood, after her mother lost custody when Acton’s stepfather was indicted on a charge of raping Acton when she was 12.
The ad drew bipartisan criticism. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called it “deeply troubling” and urged the campaign to pull it. Ramaswamy defended his decision to air it, and President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance backed him publicly. The spot came off the air days before the election, with the Ramaswamy campaign saying its planned run had simply ended.
Acton’s own record drew fire too. As director of the Ohio Department of Health, she oversaw the state’s early pandemic response in 2020, including business and school closures and a decision to delay the state’s primary by shutting polling locations. Ramaswamy and other Republicans tried to pin those decisions squarely on her.
That line of attack ran into a complication from DeWine himself, who said “the buck stops with the governor” and noted he was the one who ordered the voting delay. DeWine further undercut Ramaswamy’s campaign in April when he questioned whether Ohio could afford more tax cuts, a central piece of Ramaswamy’s platform, and criticized Ramaswamy’s plan to close or consolidate public universities — a plan Democrats argued would pay for tax cuts by cutting access to education. DeWine nonetheless endorsed Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy also drew criticism from both parties over awkward campaign moments, including a widely mocked batting cage video. A Christmas Day 2024 social media post in which he criticized American culture for having “venerated mediocrity over excellence” while discussing foreign-born engineers angered figures on the right, including fellow Indian American Nikki Haley, and remains a point of distrust among some conservative commentators.
Acton, for her part, broke from some positions common in her party, including opposing policies allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, as she worked to build a more moderate image even while Republicans hammered her pandemic-era record.
Ramaswamy came into the race with close ties to Trump’s movement, having briefly been tapped to help lead the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk before stepping away to run for governor. He faced no serious primary opposition and held a substantial financial edge over Acton.
Ohio last elected a Democratic governor in 2006, when Ted Strickland beat Republican Ken Blackwell.
Add comment