Know before you vote. Read about the candidates running for governor of Ohio: Democrat Amy Acton and Repupblican Vikek Ramaswamy.

Profile

Amy Acton - Democrat 

Dr. Amy Acton, 60, born Feb. 16, 1966, grew up in Youghstown Ohio, she described her childhood as marked by poverty and abuse. Acton earned a bachelor's degree from Youngstown State University and a medical degree from Northeastern Ohio University’s College of Medicine, now Northeast Ohio Medical University, and a masters in public health from the Ohio State university. (Wikipedia)

Before politics, she was a physician and public-health professional  who taught at OSU. In 2019 governor Mike DeWine appointed her as director of the Ohio Department of Health, which she resigned from in June of 2020 after running Ohio's initial response to the COVID pandemic. (Wikipedia)

Vivek Ramaswamy - Republican

Vivek Ramaswamy, 41, born Aug. 9, 1985, grew up in Cincinnati Ohio, the child of Indian immigrant parents. He attended St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, earned a biology degree from Harvard University in 2007, and graduated from Yale Law School in 2013. (Britannicacom)

Before launching his career in politics, Ramaswamy founded the pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences in 2014 and served as chief executive until 2021. He became a national figure in 2024 when he ran for president, seeking the Republican nomination. President Trump named him with Elon Musk a co-chair of DOGE, but Ramaswamy was not active in the position. (Britannicacom, Wikipedia)

Policy

Amy Acton

Acton’s campaign for governor of Ohio centers on five major policies: tax relief for working families, increased funding for public schools, affordable health care, reproductive freedom and anti-discrimination protections and tightening rules for data centers. (statenews.org, 10tv.com)

Tax relief 

Acton has proposed an earned tax credit along with an annual child tax credit of $1,000 for families with children aged 0-6 and a $500 credit for families with children aged 7-18. This tax credit would apply to families that make up to $85,000 a year. (statenews.org)

Increased public school funding

Acton wants to fully implement Ohio’s bipartisan Fair School Funding Plan. Along with providing free school breakfast and lunch. (10tv.com)

Affordable healthcare 

Acton’s plan for making healthcare more affordable in Ohio includes, supporting protected Medicare expansion, lowering prescription drug costs with an Ohio Rx purchasing platform, addressing medical debt and supporting rural hospitals. (Cincinati.com)

Reproductive freedom and anti-discrimination

Acton supports increased accessibility to abortions, contraception, fertility treatments and miscarriage care. She has also proposed stronger protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. (10tv.com)

Data centers

Acton has called for a conditional pause on data center development in Ohio until there are more safeguards in place. Acton’s campaign listed some of the safeguards as  "ensure they cover one hundred percent of their utility costs, exclusively build with union labor, operate with full transparency, support the needs of local communities, live by Ohio’s environmental standards, and bring jobs to former industrial areas that have been left behind." (10tv.com)

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy’s five major policies for his campaign for governor of Ohio are cutting property taxes, expanding energy production, improving education, tougher policies on violent crime and restricting where new data centers can be built. (Cleveland19.com and 10tv.com)

Property tax

In an interview with Cleveland 19 news, Ramasawmy promised to lower property tax bills to pre COVID levels and cap growth from there. (Cleveland19.com)

Expanding energy production

Ramaswamy wants to lower electricity bills to pre-pandemic levels by boosting in-state energy production and pressing for a stronger Ohio voice on the regional power grid. (Cleveland19.com)

Education

When talking about academic standards in Ohio, Ramaswamy stated he wants to focus on raising “3rd-grade literacy, 8th-grade numeracy, and 12th grade civics.” He is also in favor of private school vouchers, with his campaign website stating he wants to“empower parents with transparency and meaningful choices over where and how their children learn.” (10tv.com)

Policies on violent crime

Ramaswamy’s plan to “restore law and order” in Ohio includes enforcing stricter bail and sentencing on repeat violent offenders, supporting police by encouraging officers to arrest violent criminals quickly and strengthening public safety across the state. (10tv.com).

Data centers

Ramaswamy has said that what's best for Ohio is "neither unrestrained data center growth nor a permanent categorical ban.” His campaign website states that residents in a community with a data center will not have to pay for their homes electricity, will pay lower property taxes and the data center will be required to follow air and water quality standards. His campaign stated, “If any one of these three conditions is not met, the data center won't be built, period.” (10tv.com)

Controversies 

The race for governor of Ohio has been far from clean, with controversies surrounding both candidates running for the state.  

Amy Acton

One of the biggest talking points this election cycle about Acton has been about the COVID-19 pandemic while she was Ohio’s health director. During the pandemic, Acton signed emergency orders to close schools, business, restrict in person gatherings and suspend in-person voting in the March 2020 primary. All of these actions were supported by outgoing Republican Governor Mike DeWine. (apnews.com).

Another major talking point about Acton derived from an advertisement sponsored by a pro-Ramaswamy super PAC. The ad centered around a police response to a domestic dispute at her home in 2019. That ad featured the tagline “Drinking. Drugs. Disaster. Disqualified,” alluding that that tag line described Acton’s condition that night. However, the police report from that night does not prove the drug-alcohol-abuse claim that the ad is alleging. Acton says that the ad exaggerated what happened that night. (cnn.com)

A major boost for the democrat came with ThePlain Dealer’s endorsement of Acton for governor. On Oct. 25, the paper’s editorial board endorsed her campaign for governor, which broke the news outlet’s own rule against endorsing candidates running for governor, U.S. Senate and president. The paper endorsed Acton after they felt Ramaswamy’s ad (see below) featuring her estranged mother crossed a red line. (cleveland.com)

Vivek Ramaswamy

One of the biggest controversies during this midterm cycle has been Ramaswamy’s ad featuring Acton’s mother, Donna Aurthur. In the ad, Aurthur calls her daughter a “liar” referencing her past and says that voters should not “vote for people who lie.” (dispatch.com and youtube.com)

This ad received bipartisan criticism because of Acton’s relationship with her mother. Acton says that she has been estranged from her mother since childhood, after her stepfather Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged when Acton was 12 with raping her. (dispatch.com)

Ramaswamy defended the ad after its criticism, siding with Acton’s mother questioning her truthfulness. The ad and his statements were met with sustained bipartisan backlash questioning Ramaswamy's judgement and campaign tactics. (newsweek,com). The Ramaswamy campaign stopped running the ad on Thursday, but Ramaswamy has not conceded that he made a mistake in running it. (Associated Press)

Also raising concern among voters was Ramaswamy’s past business involvement promoting a failed Alzheimer’s drug. Acton's campaign ran an ad highlighting his affiliation with the failed drug. A failed drug trial does not indicate fraud but she used the ad to question his abilitiers as a businessman and leader. (cnn.com)

See Guides.vote for non-partisan guidance on Acton and Ramaswamy.