Amy Acton becomes first woman elected Ohio governor after defeating Vivek Ramaswamy

Amy Acton won the Ohio gubernatorial race on Tuesday, becoming the first woman elected to the state’s highest office and the first Democrat to hold the seat in two decades. The 60-year-old public health physician defeated Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and Trump-backed Republican. Her victory marks a sharp reversal for Ohio Democrats, who had largely viewed the state as a lost cause during the Trump era.

Acton campaigned heavily on affordability and healthcare access. She connected with working- and middle-class voters by sharing her personal history, including spending part of her childhood homeless and living in a tent during one winter. As she took the stage for her victory speech, the crowd chanted her name. She pledged to lower the temperature in state politics and never ignore voters, regardless of how they cast their ballots. "The healing begins today," she said.

The campaign was defined by a 60-second attack ad that Ramaswamy’s team aired in the final weeks. The spot featured Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling Acton a liar and urging Ohioans not to vote for her. The ad triggered a bipartisan backlash because Arthur had lost custody of her children decades ago after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton as a child. The stepfather pleaded not guilty and fled the state before trial.

Ramaswamy defended the ad as a fair criticism of Acton’s honesty. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native who campaigned for Ramaswamy, both supported the move. However, five former Ohio governors, women’s groups, and several hundred alumni of Ramaswamy’s high school criticized the ad as gutter politics. The campaign pulled the spot from the air about a week before the election, having spent roughly a quarter of the $4 million allocated for that specific ad buy.

Ramaswamy outspent Acton by a wide margin, with Republican allies contributing heavily to his campaign. Elon Musk injected at least $5 million into a Ramaswamy-aligned political action committee. Despite this financial advantage and high-profile visits from Trump and Vance, Acton capitalized on Ramaswamy’s wealth to portray him as out of touch with voters dealing with high costs and fuel prices.

Acton will succeed Mike DeWine, the 79-year-old Republican governor who is term-limited. DeWine served alongside Acton during the early months of the pandemic. While he endorsed Ramaswamy, he defended Acton’s earlier pandemic decisions by stating that the responsibility for those choices rested with him. Ramaswamy told supporters at a subdued watch party that he had serious concerns about the country's future direction but believed the nation would continue to find its way upward.

The Republican primary featured a challenge from Casey Putsch, a vehicle designer and YouTube critic who attracted nearly 18 percent of the party vote. Putsch directed veiled ethnic and religious attacks at Ramaswamy, who is Hindu. As the general election approached, Putsch announced his intention to vote for Acton.