Democrat Amy Acton Defeats Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio Governor's Race

Democrat Amy Acton, 60, a physician who ran Ohio's health department early in the COVID-19 pandemic, was elected governor of Ohio on Tuesday, defeating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, according to the Associated Press and CBS News. Acton had 50.7 percent to Ramaswamy's 46 percent with 85 percent of the vote counted. She is the first Democrat to win the office since Ted Strickland in 2006, ending 16 years of Republican control, and the first woman elected Ohio governor. She succeeds term-limited Republican Mike DeWine, under whom she served. Donald Trump endorsed Ramaswamy and carried Ohio by 11 points in 2024, and Acton will work with a Republican-controlled legislature. Ramaswamy had pledged to make Ohio income-tax free within a decade; Acton promised a child tax credit of up to $1,000, an earned income tax credit and property tax relief.

Left-leaning outlets CBS News and The Guardian US lead with the historic nature of the result. CBS stresses the first Democratic win in nearly 20 years, while the Guardian adds Trump's three Ohio victories, his endorsement of Ramaswamy, likely clashes with the legislature over taxes, school funding and datacenters, and the costly attack-ad campaign. Right-leaning outlets report the same numbers but frame them differently. The Daily Signal leads with the first Democratic governor since 2006 and Acton's work under DeWine. The Daily Mail blames a controversial Ramaswamy ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, adding that it omitted her loss of custody in 1978, and notes Acton is Ohio's first Jewish governor. Reason, an alternative outlet, stands apart by stressing criticism of Acton's pandemic lockdown policies and her data center and app-store proposals.