Democrat Amy Acton is projected to defeat Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio's open governor's race, left vacant by term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Decision Desk HQ projected late Tuesday night that Acton has defeated Ramaswamy, marking a rare Democrat win for the state's top office in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 11 points in 2024.
The projection came at 10:30 p.m. EST, with Acton holding a roughly four-to-five-point lead as about 75-80 percent of votes were counted.
Decision Desk HQ projects Amy Acton wins the OH Governor General#DecisionMade: 10:30 PM EST
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2026
Follow live results here: https://t.co/KAW2l7LHNo pic.twitter.com/URXeHOk2lZ
The race drew national attention after Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate who received President Trump's endorsement, aired an ad featuring Acton's estranged mother.
The ad, which accused Acton of lying about childhood abuse, drew criticism from both sides and was widely described as backfiring.
Long before the final stretch, however, Ramaswamy had already drawn sharp pushback from within Republican and MAGA circles over comments he made in December 2024 while defending H-1B visas and foreign hiring.
In a lengthy post on X, Ramaswamy argued that top tech companies prefer foreign-born and first-generation engineers over "native" Americans not because of any innate IQ deficit but because American culture has "venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long."
Ramaswamy wrote that a culture celebrating "the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian" will not produce the best engineers, and called for more hard work over "laziness," more tutoring, fewer sleepovers, more books, and less TV.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024
The rant, which he posted during a broader online fight over H-1B visas, triggered widespread backlash from many conservatives who then struggled to support his campaign.
Acton, a physician and former director of the Ohio Department of Health, served under DeWine from 2019 to mid-2020 and became the public face of the state's early COVID-19 response.
She and DeWine ordered school closures, business restrictions, and stay-at-home measures when confirmed cases were still low, earning her the nickname of "Ohio's Anthony Fauci."
Acton resigned in June 2020 amid protests outside her home and legislative pushback.
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