5 minPolitics
Acton defeats Ramaswamy, ending GOP hold on Ohio governor's mansion
Democrat Amy Acton is projected to win Ohio's gubernatorial race over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, ending a 20-year Republican hold on the governor's office in a state Donald Trump carried.
Democrat Amy Acton is projected to defeat Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio's closely watched gubernatorial race, according to the Fox News Decision Desk, a result that would end two decades of Republican control of the governor's mansion in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 2006.
Acton built her campaign around affordability and public education, presenting herself as a candidate who could appeal to voters across party lines. She portrayed Ramaswamy as out of touch and wealthy, and argued that his policies benefited people like himself. In the closing weeks of the race, Ramaswamy lost support and faced bipartisan criticism over a campaign advertisement featuring Acton's estranged mother calling her daughter a liar who could not lead Ohio until she held herself accountable. The ad did not mention that Acton had been estranged from her mother since childhood, or that her mother lost custody after Acton's stepfather was indicted on a charge of raping Acton when she was 12. The ad went off the air days before Election Day, with Ramaswamy's campaign saying its planned run had ended.
Ramaswamy defended the advertisement even as Republican Governor Mike DeWine called it « deeply troubling » and urged the campaign to take it down. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance backed Ramaswamy's decision to air it. Ramaswamy's controversies drew heavy national attention, but Acton's own record was also scrutinized. Ramaswamy and his Republican allies focused on her tenure as director of the Ohio Department of Health, where she led the state's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Conservatives blamed her for school and business closures, as well as a controversial decision to delay primary voting by closing polling stations.
DeWine complicated that line of attack. He defended Acton by saying « the buck stops with the governor » and noted he had instructed her to carry out the voting delay. In April, he questioned whether the state could afford further tax cuts, casting doubt on a central plank of Ramaswamy's campaign. He also criticized Ramaswamy's proposal to close or consolidate Ohio's public universities, which Democrats framed as a way to pay for tax cuts by reducing access to education. DeWine nonetheless officially endorsed Ramaswamy over Acton.
Ramaswamy also drew criticism from both the left and the right over moments on the trail, including a batting cage video that circulated widely on social media. A Christmas Day 2024 post in which he criticized American culture for having « venerated mediocrity over excellence » while discussing foreign-born engineers angered some on the right, including fellow Indian American Nikki Haley, and many right-wing commentators on X and other platforms still cite it as a reason to distrust him.
Republicans tried throughout the campaign to tie Acton to unpopular pandemic-era restrictions she helped implement, while she sought a more moderate image on some issues. She broke with many in her party by opposing policies that allow biological males to compete in women's sports. Ramaswamy entered the race with deep ties to Trump's political movement. He was initially tapped to help lead the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk before leaving that effort as Trump took office to pursue his gubernatorial bid, and he had been a prominent Trump surrogate after ending his own 2024 presidential campaign. He faced no serious primary rivals and held a significant financial advantage over Acton.
The projected result comes as Democrats were also making gains nationally. Democrats won control of the U.S. House on the same night, according to NBC News and MS NOW, needing a net gain of just three seats and winning in Republican-held suburban and swing districts. Ohio's governor's race, however, stands as one of the clearest signs of a shift in a state that Trump carried, where a Republican grip on the top state office had held for 20 years.
Source: foxnews.com
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