This November, Ohio’s two major parties are backing nominees for governor who’ve never held elective office before. The last time that happened on either side of the aisle was almost 100 years ago when Myers Y. Cooper represented the GOP in the 1928 election.
Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic candidate Amy Acton both insist the contrast between them could not be greater, and for the most part they’re right. In both their priorities, biographies, and demeanor, they offer something very different to voters.
But absent a political record to draw on, voters are left with what the candidates actually say to distinguish them.
Billionaire businessman Ramaswamy emphasizes the success he’s had and hopes to share with Ohio voters.
Physician and public health leader Acton sees echoes of her own struggles as a child facing homelessness in Ohioans barely making rent.
The Ohio they’re promising, though? It looks pretty similar.
Both say they’ll reduce housing costs, health care costs, and taxes.
Ramaswamy’s “lower costs, bigger paychecks, better schools” slogan would fit comfortably on either candidate. Acton meanwhile says she’ll “make Ohio affordable again,” borrowing, intentionally or not, Donald Trump’s now ubiquitous MAGA construction.
Acton promises an Ohio where “everyone gets a fair shot,” while Ramaswamy commits to “revive this quaint idea that we call the American Dream.”
In their victory speeches following last week’s primary election the nominees zeroed in on the same core pocketbook concerns — the cost of housing, utilities, and taxes are all too high. And looking further down the road, voters worry schools aren’t delivering their kids the opportunity to get ahead.
But while the campaigns agree on the diagnosis, they offer very different cures.
Two Ohios
Ramaswamy framed much of victory speech around the Ohio voters could wake up to following November’s election.
Ohioans can wake up to lower utility bills because the state is producing more energy, as well as lower property taxes and income taxes “because it is your money, not the government’s.”
Ohio’s students would be doing better in reading and math because they’re not “indoctrinated with victimhood psychology,” and housing costs would be on the decline because Ramaswamy’s administration is “cutting the red tape.”
“We can wake up to an Ohio where we are more united because it is easier to connect with our fellow neighbors and to be united in a rising economic tide,” he said.
“That is one Ohio where we can wake up to in November, and that is where I will lead this state if you elect me this November.”
In contrast, he claimed if Acton is allowed to win businesses would flee “in droves,” taxes would increase by $21 billion, and public schools would continue “choking the success of our students.”
But a Democrat doesn’t need to be in charge for businesses to leave the state. Ramaswamy’s “anti-woke” investment firm Strive Enterprises moved from Columbus to Dallas, Texas in November 2024.
The purported tax increase Ramaswamy is alleging is driven by Acton’s promise to forgive medical debt. Ramaswamy’s campaign simply multiplied the average debt burden by the number of Ohioans with medical debt to arrive at a figure of $15 billion. But that’s not how Acton’s idea would work. Like a similar program in Illinois, the state purchases debt that has gone to collections for a tiny fraction of its face value. Illinois’ program wiped out more than $1.1 billion in debt with $10 million in state funding.
In a statement, campaign spokesperson Evan Machan said, “This election offers Ohioans a clear choice: Liberal Amy Acton wants bigger government and more spending, which means higher taxes, while Vivek will fight for common sense policies that deliver lower costs, bigger paychecks, and better schools.”
But Ramaswamy has been vague about how he’d fund his positive vision of lower taxes, utility bills, and housing costs.
Think tank Innovation Ohio estimated reducing property taxes would cost $6.6 billion. Eliminating income taxes would be costly as well. In the 2025 fiscal year, they generated about $11 billion. With severance taxes already comparatively very low in Ohio, it’s unclear how the administration would promote energy production. If red tape is standing in the way of housing construction, it has gone unaddressed by nearly two decades of Republican leadership.
“It doesn’t add up”
On election night, Acton described a young couple from Clermont County that she’s talked about before on the campaign trail. They stretched to afford a home but then got hit with $300,000 in medical bills after having twins born premature.
“And then it’s the groceries going up, and it’s the gas — we all saw it go over five bucks, right? Her electric bill goes up. Her property taxes go up,” Acton said.
The family’s school district even cut back its kindergarten program, Acton added.
“This is what I am talking about,” she said. “They are doing every single thing right, but it doesn’t add up, and that is why we’re fighting to help make Ohio affordable again.”
To get there, Acton is proposing a working families tax cut — pairing an earned income tax credit with a child tax credit of up to $1,000. Acton’s campaign says a married couple with two kids earning $60,000 a year would get a $1,778 tax break. She also promises to “fully fund” public schools.
The campaign isn’t explicit about how Acton plans to pay for those ideas, but there are hints.
In an emailed statement, the campaign noted state lawmakers have “put the wealthiest Ohioans and corporations first for far too long,” and Ohio’s private school voucher program “is sending billions of Ohioans’ tax dollars to fund private schools with no accountability.”
It’s unclear whether rolling back recent income tax cuts and the expansion of Ohio’s voucher program would accomplish everything Acton is promising, but they would be a start.
Acton criticized Ramaswamy as out of touch and out for himself. She pointed to past comments in which he called Medicare and Medicaid “mistakes,” downplayed affordability as a “buzzword,” and said businesses prize foreign and first generation workers because Americans “venerat(e) mediocrity over excellence.”
“My opponent says people are lazy and mediocre and not working hard enough,” Acton said. “Well, that is not the Ohioans that I know, and I know it’s not the Ohioans that you know. We are all working harder than ever.”
Libertarian agenda
Outside the major party face off is Libertarian candidate Don Kissick, who promises to “break the machine” and “restore freedom.”
His campaign supports both the amendment abolishing property taxes and another protecting same sex marriage, should the U.S. Supreme Court someday overturn its prior ruling.
Kissick wants to reduce government regulation of the marijuana industry, and strongly opposes Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “an unaccountable federal enforcement agency.”
He contends those who are here illegally should have a “straightforward and clear path” to legal status, and be required to make a good faith effort toward that goal.
Kissick’s platform seeks an end to what he terms “corporate bribery.”
“For so long,” the campaign states, “there have been corporate contributions coming to politicians from regulated monopolies in utilities, healthcare, telecom, and insurance.”
Kissick would also ban lawmakers from serving as lobbyists for five years after leaving office.