Amy Acton wins Ohio governor's seat, beating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy



Results are in for one of the highest-profile gubernatorial elections in the country.

The highly polarizing race between Democratic candidate Amy Acton and Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for governor of Ohio has come to a conclusion.

Acton, a physician, won the race by a 5-point margin with 87% of votes reported.

According to the Associated Press, Acton won the election by five points on Tuesday night, upsetting Republicans' hopes of retaining the governorship, which has been held by term-limited Republican Mike DeWine since 2019.

The results of the contest were much closer than some may have expected in the red state.

Acton, a physician, won the race by a five-point margin with 87% of votes reported, according to the AP.

RELATED: Trump endorses controversial Ramaswamy ad — and bashes media trying to force him to take video down

Michael Swensen/Getty Images

One of the biggest "October surprises" of the campaign — which soon became the central pillar of the race in the eyes of many — came when Ramaswamy's campaign featured Acton's estranged biological mother calling her a "liar" in an expensive campaign advertisement.

Ohio has been a consistently red state for the last three presidential elections, with 2024 support reaching its zenith at roughly 55%.

As of Friday afternoon, the Blaze Poll Watch average showed Acton ahead of Ramaswamy by three points, beating him 48.2%-45.2%. Acton's lead expanded to 4.2 points on the afternoon of Election Day.

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Is Someone Using Prediction Markets to Sway the Midterms? Stu Investigates
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Is Someone Using Prediction Markets to Sway the Midterms? Stu Investigates

Backlash EXPLODES over Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring opponent’s mom



Political attack ads are nothing new, but Vivek Ramaswamy’s latest one in Ohio’s gubernatorial race takes things to a whole new level.

The ad features Amy Acton’s own mother urging voters not to elect her.

“My name is Donna Arthur, and I’m Amy Acton’s mother. I worked at Children and Family Service Association, building one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America. I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem,” Arthur began in the ad.

“She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life. My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” she claimed.

“People can change, but first they have to tell the truth,” she continued. “And my daughter still isn’t doing that. Don’t vote for people who lie. Don’t let her become your governor.”


“If you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself. It will only get worse,” she added.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad like that before. It’s brutal,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere says.

“It’s very powerful,” co-host Dave Landau agrees.

“And you even listen to her, even though she comes off like a woman who you’d have at Christmas that you would ignore,” he adds.

Stu points out that despite the “powerful” ad, there are “complications” to the backstory.

“Reporters are very upset about this. Like they immediately have taken sides in this inter-family dispute. You can say we shouldn’t air these inter-family disputes in the middle of a campaign. That’s a plausible opinion if you want,” Stu says.

“But what’s interesting about what the media has done,” he adds, “is they’ve just immediately embraced Amy Acton’s side of the story, right?”

Stu plays a clip of Ramaswamy addressing the ad, admitting that it is “an ad from our campaign.”

“And the thing that I want to say is that I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans. And unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won’t debate me,” he explained.

“She doesn’t allow cameras at her events. And I think her record of continuously, certainly during this campaign, I would say spreading some defamatory, disparaging lies about me and my family that does deserve to be scrutinized,” he continued.

“I’ve never met Amy Acton, which is a regret. I wish I’d met at least my opponent. I’ve also never met her mother. She was not compensated. I asked my team that question because we’ve got the question,” he added.

“Now look, there is a complicating circumstance,” Stu comments. “I did want to bring this up because I think it’s an important part of the story. The reason why there’s all this outrage is the split between Amy Acton and her mom is a terrible, terrible story.”

“Including claims of abuse. The claim was that Amy Acton was abused by her stepfather, and basically the mom sided with the stepfather,” he adds.

“Well, there’s three sides to every story, Stu,” Dave says.

“There’s one side, another side, and then there’s the truth,” he adds.

Trump endorses controversial Ramaswamy ad — and bashes media trying to force him to take video down



President Donald Trump issued an unequivocal endorsement of the controversial political video advertisement from Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.

The ad features the mother of his opponent for the gubernatorial race in Ohio calling her a liar and asking Ohioans not to vote for her.

'That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice!'

Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate, excoriated Ramaswamy for using her mother in an ad after Acton suffered sexual abuse by her mother's partner when she was a child.

Various Republicans have called on Ramaswamy to take the ad down, but the president is not one of them.

"Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse," Trump wrote in a post on social media Thursday.

"The Press, in a concerted and well coordinated attack, is trying to get Vivek Ramaswamy to 'take down the Ad.' Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office, let alone the Office of Governor," he added.

He went on to fully endorse Ramaswamy leaving the ad up.

"I only wish the mothers of my opponents would be so brave as to come forward and explain that their son or daughter is a liar, and much worse," he added. "That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice! The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it's so good!"

Among the more prominent Republicans calling for the ad to be taken down was Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R).

"The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling. But when you know the rest of the story, when you know the backstory, when you know that the husband of the mom was indicted by a grand jury after hearing testimony, and that he took off along with the mother," DeWine said to reporters.

"When you know that, it just, to me, makes it more serious. It makes it just more wrong. So it's wrong to run this ad ... I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down," he added.

On the other hand, Vice President JD Vance excoriated Republicans for criticizing Ramaswamy.

RELATED: JD Vance says he is 'DISGUSTED' with Republicans after controversial Ramaswamy ad

Acton was 12 years old when her biological father reported her stepfather to police over allegations that he had raped Acton for a period of time, beginning December 1976 and ending April 1978.

Acton's stepfather, Cledith Arthur, pleaded not guilty and then failed to appear in court before becoming a fugitive from the law. He died in 2004.

The Rooster political blog first shared the ad, but the Ramaswamy campaign took responsibility for the video Tuesday and indicated it had plans to spend $4 million to promote the ad.

Ohio governor polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamy

pollwatch.theblaze.com

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JD Vance says he is 'DISGUSTED' with Republicans after controversial Ramaswamy ad



Vice President JD Vance was unequivocal in his condemnation of the Republicans who have criticized fellow Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for a controversial ad against his Democrat opponent in the Ohio governor's race.

The ad features the mother of Democrat Amy Acton calling Acton a liar and telling Ohioans not to vote for her. Ramaswamy later acknowledged that his campaign was behind it.

'Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race.'

Acton's campaign called the ad "repulsive" and characterized Acton's mother as "abusive" and Ramaswamy as "a scam artist." Acton has made her rise from an allegedly dysfunctional and abusive childhood a signature part of her campaign.

While some Republicans have also criticized Ramaswamy for the ad, the vice president set the ad itself aside and went after the Republican critics instead.

"Well, I'll be honest with you; whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern. What is my concern is who is going to govern the next generation of American government; who is going to win the Senate race in the state of Ohio; who is going win the governor's race in the state of Ohio," said Vance at the Cincinnati FBI field office in Sycamore Township on Wednesday.

"And I gotta be honest that when I see Republicans, people in my party, reacting so strongly, especially elected officials, look, have the opinion you want to have on that ad. If you think it was too tough, say it was too tough. If you think it wasn't tough enough, say that," he added.

"But I have to admit that I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America," Vance said.

He then noted that Democrats have also attacked Republicans viciously and used ads featuring members of their families without compunction.

"People have called Vivek Ramaswamy a murderer in some of the advertisements ran against him," Vance said.

"How many times have we seen advertisements using his family members, estranged family members, to go after the president of the United States?"

RELATED: 'Shut the f*** up': Vivek tells off Van Jones for saying he's 'dangerous' and a 'demagogue'

"Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days," he concluded.

Vance went on to campaign with Ramaswamy in Cincinnati.

Acton is ahead of Ramaswamy in the average of polling compiled at the Blaze Poll Watch below:

Ohio governor polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamy

Ohio Governor polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamypollwatch.theblaze.com

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Democrat's mother calls her a 'liar,' tells Ohioans not to vote for her in damning video



Democrat Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton is leading Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the polls by 3.6 percentage points with Election Day just two weeks away. It appears, however, that Acton's mother may have thrown Ramaswamy a lifeline.

D.J. Byrnes, an Ohio political blogger who was found guilty of sexual harassment earlier this month for sending a pornographic image of Shrek to Republican state Sen. Jerry Cirino, reported last week on "rumblings" that Ramaswamy had "co-opted Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother for an endorsement video."

'If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself.'

Ohio Gubernatorial polls 2026: Acton vs. Ramaswamy.pollwatch.theblaze.com

On Monday night, an X account affiliated with Byrnes shared a minute-long ad featuring a woman who identifies herself as Donna Arthur, "Amy Acton's mother." Acton's campaign confirmed that the woman in the video is the Democrat's mother.

Acton's mother states in the video:

I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, and it's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true.

Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health who earned the moniker "Dr. Lockdown" by curtailing basic liberties during the pandemic in the Buckeye State, has long shared a bootstrap sob story about growing up in a dysfunctional family from Youngstown, living in a tent, alleged molestation, and moving around the country.

"Homelessness is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart," the Democrat told the Toledo Blade in 2020. "It is something I experienced as a kid."

Acton said in a 2020 interview with WKBN-TV that she lived in 18 different places by the time she was 12; was stigmatized as a child because she was "dirty and smelly"; and was fed by strangers who knew that she and her brother "were hungry."

RELATED: Senior Michigan Democrats make announcement sure to give El-Sayed an ulcer: 'Party loyalty is not blind obedience'

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

The pro-abortion Democrat's campaign site presently claims that "Amy Acton faced a difficult childhood. She overcame periods of abuse, hunger, and neglect, and even wound up living in a tent in the middle of winter. That challenging upbringing molded the values and determination that have shaped a career dedicated to lifting others."

"She's lied her entire life," Arthur says in the video.

"My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn't doing that," Arthur continues. "Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor. If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse."

Ramaswamy's campaign and Arthur did not respond by deadline to Blaze News' requests for comment.

The Acton campaign has released a statement from Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, noting, "It's not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point."

"After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died," continued Stearns. "This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core — a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants."

Acton's estranged mother has previously cast doubt on the Democrat's origin story.

Donna Arthur told the pro-life organization Operation Rescue in 2020 that after leaving Acton's biological father because he was allegedly abusive, she was a single mom for several years.

During this time, Arthur claimed that her family was never homeless and always fed. She claimed further that instead of living in 18 locations, they lived in only four homes until her remarriage, after which time there were only two additional moves.

A cleaner version of the video was shared by Walter Curt, Ohio state director of the Conservative Caucus, and has since gone viral online.

Conservative author Rod Dreher wrote, "Well, I guess that's one lady who's not going to get a Mother's Day card next year! Holy cow!"

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell noted, "Nobody enjoys hearing a mother say these things about her child. Arthur says she loves her daughter, and there is no reason to doubt her. Speaking out against your own child in a statewide race carries a heavy personal cost, and Arthur chose to bear it anyway."

"Ohio cannot afford a governor who rewrites her own history when it suits her," continued Blackwell. "The woman who has known Amy Acton longer than anyone is warning that she does."

Arthur's claims about her daughter needing help come a month after a Washington Examiner report highlighted concerns about Acton's mental stability in her previous role as Ohio's top health official.

According to interviews with current and former state government workers, Acton allegedly: missed so many crucial meetings about COVID while director of the Ohio Department of Health that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine asked about her whereabouts; was once found "curled up" in the fetal position on the floor prior to an emergency response meeting; was observed "constantly crying on the job"; and "acted passive-aggressively toward subordinates who said something she disagreed with."

The Acton campaign denied the claims in the Examiner report, calling them "disgusting lies and desperate mischaracterizations."

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Vance Takes Center Stage In White House Push To Protect GOP Majority

VP Takes Center Stage In White House Push To Protect GOP Majority

Republican AG’s Resignation Could Cause Ripple Effect Through Entire State

He's expected to accept a job in the private sector

Trump-endorsed governor candidate carries the day; moves on to face 'Dr. Lockdown' in November



Ohioans went to the polls on Tuesday in what has arguably become one of the highest-profile primaries in the country ahead of the midterm elections later this year.

The closest-watched Republican primary, of course, was for Ohio governor, and the winner will go on to face an unopposed Democratic candidate in November.

With over 98% of the votes counted, Ramaswamy had received 82.5% to Putsch's 17.5%.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate, biotech entrepreneur, and former presidential candidate, faced off against "America First" candidate Casey Putsch, who has positioned himself as a "third option" against the two choices provided by the political establishment.

Ramaswamy, the favorite in recent polling, was able to beat Putsch for the GOP nomination. With over 98% of the votes counted, Ramaswamy had received 82.5% to Putsch's 17.5%.

RELATED: 'Dr. Lockdown': Ohio Democrat governor candidate's COVID tyranny comes back to haunt her — but she still may win

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

After the race was called, Ramaswamy pledged not just to make "Ohio great again, but to make Ohio greater than we have ever been before."

Putsch told his voters on Tuesday morning, "Get out there Ohio, and don't let anyone Putsch you around," but did not post on X after the election.

Ramaswamy will go on to face unopposed Democratic candidate Amy Acton in November. Acton has been criticized for her former role as the director of the Ohio Department of Health during the early COVID-19 pandemic response, earning the nickname "Dr. Lockdown."

Another contentious race has been raging as well.

Ohio Republican leadership is attempting to secure a 7-0 court on the state Supreme Court with a four-way challenge against Democrat Justice Jennifer Brunner.

Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Jill Flagg Lanzinger, former Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O’Donnell, 5th District Court of Appeals Judge Andrew King, and 2nd District Court of Appeals Judge Ronald Lewis were the four Republican rivals competing in this week's primary.

As of Wednesday morning, O'Donnell holds a lead, but the race is still too close to call.

U.S. House GOP candidates in Ohio won more than half of their primary races uncontested, while Democrats had three uncontested primary races.

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Under-The-Radar Race In Ohio Pits Two Trump Allies Against One Another

Sign of what's to come...