COLUMBUS, Ohio — In one of the most watched gubernatorial races in the country, Dr. Amy Acton believes she can be the Democrat to turn Ohio blue.
In a 30-minute sit-down interview, Acton mainly spoke about her policy positions. This story focuses on the state of the race, as well as the challenges she has been facing.
“I've been going places Dems haven't been in a while,” the candidate said.
Acton, Ohio’s former COVID-era health director, has been running a campaign on affordability — hoping to work across the aisle to pass common sense legislation. Political strategists have said she has better odds of winning than the majority of other Democrats have had in two decades.
"Ohioans don't care what party you are anymore; they want you to be a public servant to solve the problems," Acton said.
She faces a major challenge. Democrats rarely pass any priority legislation, since there are double the amount of Republicans, a supermajority, in the General Assembly.
"How are you going to get them through if that supermajority stays still?" I asked her.
"I've been trained to do this work, and I've worked with people on both sides of the aisle my entire career," she replied.
Unlike many Democrats before her, she is focused on working alongside Republicans, even putting some in cabinet positions.
But the moderate playbook doesn’t always work.
In 2022, Democrat Tim Ryan was performing extremely well 50 days before the election, but started to nosedive as the Senate race got closer.
"How do you avoid that same fate?" I asked.
"Well, Morgan, I have to say it's been an incredible run for us," she said, adding that she won the most primary votes of any candidate for governor in history. "Unlike Tim and others, I won back where I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, the valley — we saw a big shift all over the state, and that's what we're seeing on the ground."
Having worked alongside Gov. Mike DeWine, she is used to the spotlight, especially when it comes to negative attention. In 2020, armed protestors repeatedly surrounded her home.
Earlier this month, an armed man was arrested after Acton said he lunged at her.
WATCH: Man accused of assault at Dr. Amy Acton event pleads not guilty
RELATED: Man accused of assault, inducing panic at Dr. Amy Acton event pleads not guilty
She blamed this race, and her opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, for a rise in violence.
"There's no place for violence in the work of public service, but we all know that folks like my opponent have been peddling inflammatory conspiracy theories. They don't mind inducing that sort of thing," she said.
She has falsely been accused of being a "socialist" by Ramaswamy, she said, noting that he had made veiled threats at socialism by saying that the Second Amendment was "made for times such as these."
"To me, that's baiting people," Acton continued. "To me, that's inflammatory rhetoric."
Ramaswamy condemned the incident with Acton at that time, and for this story, his team called her a hypocrite, saying her "campaign spews vitriol every day."
"Ohioans are ready for change," Acton said.
We have been digging into Acton's policy positions and will continue to put them side by side with her opponents, specifically Ramaswamy. We’ve asked him to sit down with us repeatedly, but haven’t been given a date yet.
Read the latest on the governor's race:
- TV stations are required to air campaign ads, even if they are misleading
- Did Acton shut down Ohio? Where did Ramaswamy go to school? We fact-check ads.
- Dr. Amy Acton responds to attack ads about alcohol, COVID death
- Acton refuses to engage with Ramaswamy as Ohio debates decline
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
