USAupdated 47m ago2 min read
Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton Battle for Ohio Governor in Costly Showdown
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ActiVote shows Ramaswamy leads Acton by 2.8% among 400 likely voters. Marist Poll shows Acton leads by 7 points among likely statewide voters.
Ohio governor race heats up
Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton are battling for Ohio governor in a campaign Axios describes as a fiercely contested, wildly expensive showdown between the Republican entrepreneur and the Democrat and former health director. Ramaswamy is campaigning on a promise to be "the most conservative Governor in Ohio's history," while Acton emphasizes affordability, public education and health care. Ramaswamy fielded questions in Monroe County, along the Ohio-West Virginia border, about how he would pay for property tax cuts he is promising if elected.
Ramaswamy told a town hall audience, "There are some things that are out of control of a governor, and I'm not going to give you just some fake promise," as he tried to frame his approach to property taxes. Ramaswamy said, "I’m a businessman," and added, "I’m not somebody who has grown up in Ohio politics."
Spending, polling, and messaging
The Ramaswamy campaign has unleashed a torrent of political advertising, with "over $97 million" in TV and radio spots as of last week, and it is more than triple Democratic spending. Ramaswamy and allied groups have poured over $120 million into advertising in the state, more than triple the spending on Acton’s side. Marist Poll finds Acton leads Ramaswamy by seven points among Ohio likely voters, with Acton at 50% and Ramaswamy at 43%.
Marist Poll also reports that "Half of Ohio likely voters (50%) think Brown will actually win the Senate seat, not Husted (45%)," tying the governor race to broader Senate dynamics. ActiVote’s October 19 poll instead finds Ramaswamy leads Acton by 2.8% among 400 likely midterm voters, with the poll in the field between September 27 and October 19 and a median field date of October 8.
What the race could decide
The election will determine whether Ohio continues its run of Republican leadership or elects a Democrat for the first time since Ted Strickland in 2006. An Acton victory would make her Ohio's first woman governor and end two decades of Republican control of the office, though she would likely still contend with a GOP-controlled Statehouse. Ramaswamy is trying to convince an overwhelmingly White, Christian and middle-class state to make him its first Indian American governor, first Hindu governor and first billionaire governor.
Ramaswamy is attempting a rare route in politics, going from national notoriety as a presidential candidate to running for state office, toning down the hard-charging and provocative style of his presidential campaign. Trump’s early endorsement frames the stakes, with Trump’s Truth Social post that Ramaswamy "has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!" as the race becomes a tougher fight than Republicans had expected.