By Islam El-Sakka
Amy Acton was elected governor of Ohio on Tuesday, delivering a rare Democratic victory in a state that Donald Trump carried three times. Acton, 60, led Ohio’s health department through the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic and will become the first woman to serve as the state’s governor. Her defeat of Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur endorsed by Trump, ends 16 years of Republican control of the governor’s office and marks the first Democratic win since Ted Strickland in 2006.
Victory Ends Republican Streak
Acton will lead a state that backed Trump by 11 points in 2024 and will govern alongside a Republican-controlled legislature, setting up potential clashes over tax reform, school funding and datacenters. The contest to succeed term-limited Republican Mike DeWine was described as “ugly,” with millions of dollars spent on attack ads.
Campaign Contrasts
Ramaswamy secured Trump’s endorsement the day he launched his campaign, promising to make Ohio income-tax free within a decade, cut energy bills and restore “law and order” to cities. Acton centered her campaign on lowering costs, proposing an earned income tax credit, a child tax credit of up to $1,000, a public prescription drug platform and property tax relief aimed at seniors and middle-income homeowners. She presented herself as a pragmatist who had served in DeWine’s Republican administration.
Attack Ads and Backlash
In the final weeks the race became one of the most expensive and bitter in the country. Ramaswamy’s campaign aired an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother calling her a liar; the mother lost custody after Acton’s stepfather was indicted for raping her when she was 12. The spot drew condemnation from politicians of both parties, but Trump and Vice President JD Vance backed the minute-long ad, which the campaign planned to spend $4 million to air. The ad was discontinued last week.
Polling Shift and Victory
Acton, a first-time candidate, initially trailed by double digits with roughly a quarter of voters unfamiliar with her. Democrats had speculated that better-known figures such as former Senator Sherrod Brown or former Congressman Tim Ryan might enter the race. By mid-October, Ramaswamy and his allies had spent more than $100 million on ads against Acton, roughly three times her campaign’s spending, focusing on her role in pandemic shutdowns. At an October rally in Youngstown, Trump called Acton “a radical left lunatic.” However, polling moved steadily in her direction through the fall, and a string of October polls showed her ahead until her eventual victory.
