{"id":205600,"date":"2026-05-06T15:25:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=205600"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:27:13","slug":"ramawamy-acton-to-square-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/ramawamy-acton-to-square-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaswamy, Acton to square off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nick Evans\/Ohio Capital Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s race for governor this November is set. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy will face Democrat Amy Acton in November, according to unofficial results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results will remain unofficial until they are certified by election officials later this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both major party candidates are political newcomers who\u2019ve distinguished themselves as communicators. They\u2019ll have ample opportunity to make their case.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Dr. Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Acton is breaking Democratic fundraising records in Ohio; according to pre-primary reports her campaign has cleared $10 million. Ramaswamy has spent that much on campaign ads already, and with a $25 million personal loan, appears ready to spend more. And that doesn\u2019t even account for the Super PAC supporting his bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acton, who didn\u2019t have a primary challenger, described herself as a \u201cscrappy kid from Youngstown\u201d in a speech to supporters Tuesday night. She drew comparisons between her own struggles as a child facing homelessness and the challenges Ohioans today face in making ends meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am running for governor because people in this state are struggling,\u201d Acton said. \u201cThey are doing everything right. They\u2019re working harder than they ever have, but there is no more breathing room. They\u2019re struggling with the cost of everyday life, and I refuse to look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Acton needled her opponent for criss-crossing the state in a private jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you are looking at a state from 30,000 feet, my opponent cannot possibly see the struggles and the stories that I\u2019m hearing on the road,\u201d Acton said. \u201cVivek Ramaswamy isn\u2019t just out of touch. He is out for himself. That is what is happening here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AP called the Republican primary race for Ramaswamy less than 30 minutes after polls closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do believe that this marks, without exception, the single most consequential election for governor that our state has ever seen in our history,\u201d Ramaswamy told a crowd of supporters at sports bar in Columbus\u2019 Arena District Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has never been a greater contrast between two candidates,\u201d he said, insisting he celebrates success while Acton villainizes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe will remind you every day that I\u2019m a billionaire,\u201d he said, \u201cand I will remind you that I was not born a billionaire. I was not born a millionaire. I was not born an anything-aire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Libertarian ticket, Don Kissick cruised to a primary win. His only competitor was write-in candidate Travis Jon Vought who received zero votes, according to unofficial results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet the candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acton built a career in public health both as a practicing physician and a teacher at Ohio State University. But her introduction to Ohio voters came as the calming voice alongside Gov. Mike DeWine early in the COVID-19 pandemic. She conveyed empathy and encouragement to Ohioans stuck in their homes, and she had a knack for breaking down complex information in an understandable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rare Democrat in a state government dominated by Republicans for more than a decade, Acton was blamed by some in the GOP for COVID lockdowns. She ended up resigning as state health director in June of 2020, just months after the pandemic began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy told supporters the COVID lockdowns were bad, but Acton quitting was the greater sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me, that is the most damning indictment of somebody who wants to lead this state,\u201d he said. \u201cI will never quit on Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy is not the first billionaire businessman to try his hand at politics, but that resume isn\u2019t really what brought him here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the time he stepped down as CEO of his biotech firm, Ramaswamy wrote the first in a string of books tapping into growing \u201canti-woke\u201d sentiment on the right. He rode that success to frequent appearances on cable news and then launched a quixotic 2024 presidential bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fast-talking, long-shot candidate made big promises and got under the skin of his Republican rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ramaswamy never criticized Donald Trump and later endorsed him after bowing out of the race. He parlayed that support into a short-lived stint at the head of the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary competition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since emerging in 2020, Acton has been a high priority recruit for state Democrats. She announced her candidacy in January, 2025, while big name Ohio Democrats were still mulling their 2026 plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his loss in 2024, former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown left the door open to running for U.S. Senate again or for governor. Last August he decided on a U.S. Senate run. Democratic former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan weighed his chances for governor or U.S. Senate, too. In the end, he pursued neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ramaswamy announced he was running for governor in February of 2025, Trump\u2019s endorsement came just hours later. In May of last year, the state party endorsed Ramaswamy. A few days later, his most significant challenger, Attorney General Dave Yost, dropped out of the race. Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel never jumped in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ramaswamy did draw a notable challenger in Casey Putsch. The Perrysburg man has a following on YouTube and started the nonprofit Genius Garage which trains students to build race cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putsch also has a history of Holocaust denial and last month made winking reference to the Beer Hall Putsch \u2014 Adolf Hitlers first, failed attempt to gain power \u2014 in a Putsch \u201cbeer hall rally\u201d in Toledo. On Facebook, Putsch dismissed that characterization as a \u201cpsy-op,\u201d and offered to buy a beer for anyone who showed up in a German car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also made openly race-based attacks against Ramaswamy and courted \u2018groypers\u2019 \u2014 a far-right fringe group known for nativism and antisemitism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Evans\/Ohio Capital Journal Ohio\u2019s race for governor this November is set. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy will face Democrat Amy Acton in November, according to unofficial results. Results will remain unofficial until they are certified by election officials later this month. Both major party candidates are political newcomers who\u2019ve distinguished themselves as communicators. They\u2019ll have ample […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-14 06:53:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205616,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205600\/revisions\/205616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}