Democrat Amy Acton has won Ohio’s governor’s race, defeating Vivek Ramaswamy and ending 16 years of Republican control of the office. Acton, 60, will be the state’s first woman governor and its first Democratic governor since Ted Strickland won in 2006. She succeeds term-limited Republican Mike DeWine.
The campaign became one of the country’s most expensive and bitter contests. In its final weeks, Ramaswamy’s campaign aired an attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother. The ad drew criticism from politicians in both parties, who called on Ramaswamy to remove it and apologize. Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance backed the spot, which the campaign said it planned to run at a cost of $4 million. It was discontinued last week.
Ramaswamy and his allies had spent more than $100 million on ads against Acton by mid-October, about three times her campaign’s spending. The advertising also targeted her role leading Ohio’s health department during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump called Acton “a radical left lunatic” at an October rally in Youngstown.
Acton, a first-time candidate who had never held elected office, focused her campaign on lowering costs. Her proposals included an earned income tax credit, a child tax credit of up to $1,000, a public prescription drug platform and property tax relief for seniors and middle-income homeowners. She presented herself as a pragmatist and had served in a Republican administration under DeWine.
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur endorsed by Trump, campaigned on a promise to make Ohio income-tax free within a decade, reduce energy bills and restore “law and order” in the state’s cities.
Acton will govern alongside a Republican-controlled legislature. The state backed Trump by 11 points in 2024, and the divided government could lead to disputes over tax reform, school funding and datacenters. Earlier polls showed Acton trailing by double digits, but her support rose through the fall, with several October surveys putting her ahead before her victory.
Sources: The Guardian World.