Ohio Governor 2026: Amy Acton vs. Vivek Ramaswamy
Cleveland.com says they have are no real policies. Seems like Amy does - albeit lacking details.
This continues our analysis of major races we are watching across Ohio. We are going to look at congressional races, Ohio House races, county council races, Ohio Senate races, judicial races, and now the race for governor.
So our next race is the 2026 Ohio governor’s race between Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy. Acton is the Democratic nominee, Ramaswamy is the Republican nominee, and this is one of the clearest contrasts Ohio voters are going to see on the ballot.
This is part of the larger work of The Angry Ohioans: comparing races around Ohio, looking at who is running, what they have done, what they say they will do, and who is funding them. The goal is not to give candidates a free pass because of the letter next to their name. The goal is to look clearly at who wants power, what they say they will do with it, and whether voters have a real way to hold them accountable after Election Day.
Amy Acton
Amy Acton is a 60-year-old Youngstown-born physician and public health leader who served as Director of the Ohio Department of Health under Governor Mike DeWine. She grew up through poverty and instability, worked her way through college and medical school, trained in pediatrics and preventive medicine, earned a master’s in public health, and built much of her career around children’s health, maternal health, public health, and community wellness.
Before running for governor, Acton worked in public health, taught at Ohio State, served with the Columbus Foundation, led health-focused community initiatives, and became one of Ohio’s most visible public officials during the COVID pandemic. She currently lives in Bexley, Ohio, with her husband, Eric, a teacher and coach, and they have a blended family of six children.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy is a 40-year-old Cincinnati-born entrepreneur, author, and Republican political figure who made his money in biotech, finance, and anti-woke media politics. He founded Roivant Sciences, a biotech company built around developing and commercializing drugs, later co-founded Strive Asset Management, went to Harvard and Yale, and became nationally known during his 2024 Republican presidential campaign.
Vivek is not a traditional Ohio politician who worked his way up through local government. His background is business, venture capital, biotech, national media, and Republican movement politics. He now lives in the greater Columbus area with his wife, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon at Ohio State, and their three children.
Campaign Finance Through June:
Both Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy are raising real money, but they are not raising it the same way.
According to NBC4 Columbus / WCMH, Acton raised $10.58 million in 2026, while Ramaswamy raised $10.29 million from donors through early June. On paper, that looks pretty close. But Ramaswamy also dumped $25 million of his own money into the race, bringing his total funding to roughly $35.29 million when you combine donor money and self-funding.
That is the real difference in this race. Acton has raised just under $16 million total since launching her campaign, and her campaign says the average donation is $24. Ramaswamy is running with similar donor fundraising, but then adds billionaire self-funding on top of it. That changes the entire financial picture.
The donor breakdown matters too. Ramaswamy reported 206,407 individual contributions, compared with Acton’s 172,432, but only 16% of Ramaswamy’s individual contributions came from Ohioans. Acton reported that 58% of her individual contributions came from Ohioans. So while both campaigns are raising major money, Acton’s money appears much more Ohio-heavy, while Ramaswamy is pulling from a much more national donor base.
Their spending shows two completely different strategies. Ramaswamy reported spending $21.2 million in the same period, while Acton reported spending $5.5 million. So even though their donor fundraising is close, Ramaswamy has way more total money available and is burning through it much faster.
This race is no longer some easy Republican walk. Cook Political Report moved the Ohio governor’s race from Lean Republican to Toss Up, pointing to polling showing Acton either narrowly leading or tied with Ramaswamy despite his massive early spending. Acton is running a smaller-dollar, more Ohio-heavy campaign, while Ramaswamy is running a nationalized, billionaire-funded campaign for governor of Ohio.
On the Issues
Policy count from their websites: Acton 10, Ramaswamy 4.
Amy Acton: Issues From Her Website
Reducing Costs for Ohio Families: Acton says she would lower everyday costs by targeting housing, health care, energy bills, child care, drug prices, property taxes, medical debt, and food costs. Her plan includes free school lunch, an expanded child tax credit, expanding the homestead tax exemption, cracking down on price gouging, fighting wage theft, reducing prescription drug costs, pushing hospital and insurance transparency, stopping surprise medical bills, and creating partnerships to erase medical debt.
Matt’s Take: This reads like a grocery list of things people want to hear, with every cost issue added in to reach some demographic, but not enough of a real actionable plan behind it. I get the strategy, because acknowledging these problems matters and getting lost in policy minutia may not win elections, but anyone paying attention should want to know how she plans to lower all these costs with a Republican supermajority, a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, and without gouging Ohioans in taxes.
Laura’s Take: Acton frames this as help for “775,000 working families,” but the credit she’s building on has a ceiling most working families blow past long before six figures. The federal EITC, and Ohio’s version rides on top of it, phases out completely at $68,675 for a married couple with three or more kids, and far lower than that for smaller families or single filers (IRS). A family earning $75,000, $85,000, or anywhere close to $100,000 gets nothing from it today. Acton’s plan implies she wants to expand it. Fine. How? Does she raise Ohio’s state match percentage, push to change who qualifies at the state level, or does this require Washington to move the federal thresholds first, in which case it’s a promise she can’t keep alone?
