It’s no coincidence that, over the decades since deindustrialization, the formerly purple state has become increasingly crimson, thanks in large part to partisan gerrymandering. (For 28 of the past 35 years, Republicans have simultaneously held the Ohio governor’s office and both chambers of the Statehouse.) Since the 1990s, the state’s once-lauded public schools have steadily declined; $1 billion per year in public school funding now goes to private school vouchers. Nearly a dozen rural Ohio hospitals are at risk of service reductions or closure due to Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s trademark tax bill. And then there’s the corruption: Republican Larry Householder, former speaker of Ohio’s House of Representatives, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his part in a $60 million racketeering scheme. In Ohio, economic circumstances may make life hard, but politicians often make things worse.
Acton’s background is squarely in Ohio. She paid her own way through Youngstown State, went to an Ohio med school, and taught public health at Ohio State. She is also a relative political novice: Her experience in public office begins and ends with her 16-month stint as the director of Ohio’s Department of Health in 2019 and 2020. Perhaps because of this, she is disarmingly unguarded for a public figure, with an approachable manner and a knack for establishing quick connections with strangers.
“Ramaswamy is particularly inept and he’s particularly terrible,” said Nan Whaley, who ran as the state’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee four years ago. He is, moreover, untested as an Ohio candidate, having waltzed to his party’s nomination thanks to Trump’s backing. “I think that’s a statement on where the Republican Party is today, right?” Whaley said.
Because her past exposure to the public was limited to Covid response and prevention, Acton has the advantage of being a bit of a blank slate: likable, empathetic, and not a “typical politician.”
While conditions nationally are now as fraught as Ohio’s have been for generations, Acton’s path—and voters’ response—may have long-standing implications for the Democratic Party. Indeed, depending on the outcome, her campaign may offer a blueprint for how Democrats can keep their coalitions together while running in competitive races, especially in the Midwest.
Inevitably, Acton also faced backlash and threats of violence from those angry about lockdown. Protesters—some carrying long guns, and including at least one member of the Proud Boys—lurked outside her home. In June 2020, Acton resigned after refusing to sign public health orders (pushed by Householder) to permit outdoor fairs when businesses were just reopening and hospitals were stabilizing, but she continued advising DeWine.
Indeed, Ramaswamy sometimes sounds almost contemptuous of his would-be constituents. In July, he got booed offstage at a Young Americans for Liberty National Convention at Xavier University in his hometown, after claiming the real divide in America is not based on party, but between people who want to win and people who want to whine. As boos and jeers intensified, Ramaswamy hit back that, no matter what happens, “people in my generation have already made it. We’re gonna be fine. It’s gonna be your generation … that pays the price.” The room exploded in cursing and calls to “get the fuck outta here.”
It’s tempting to surmise that Acton’s campaign is succeeding primarily because Ramaswamy is such a poor candidate, but that’s only part of the story. The economic desperation in Ohio is real and long-standing, and her empathetic approach is tapping into people’s desperation to be heard.
Acton listened again in downtown Dayton at 6888 Kitchen Incubator, a women-, minority-, and veteran-led hub for underrepresented food entrepreneurs housed in the over century-old Dayton Arcade. Dabriah Rice, 6888’s executive director, and Jamaica White, chief operating officer, gave Acton and her staff a tour and then gathered over bounteous food samples. The conversation turned to finances. “It seems like there’s no catching up, regardless of how hard you try,” said Gia Daugherty Houston, 6888’s catering manager.
As the general election began to heat up in July, Acton began to stake out more moderate positions on issues involving law enforcement and trans rights, wading into more controversial policies that could win over centrists and Republicans. It’s not new for Democrats from red regions to break with the party—Dems from rural areas often swing conservative on gun rights; Midwestern officials may protect fossil fuel companies in the name of jobs. Most Ohioans only know Acton’s name because of her close work with a Republican administration. She tells voters, “I don’t care what party you are.”
Then there was a response she gave to the Toledo Blade in July about trans athletes’ participation in youth sports. Acton said, “I do not support boys playing in girls’ sports. This is already settled law in Ohio, and as governor I will enforce and uphold the law.”
When I asked Acton about her Blade comment, she framed the uproar as an attempt to use settled law to distract and divide, and a “sad part of political season.” But the controversy has rankled many in the queer community, and disappointed many of those for whom Acton’s pledge to “see” all of her constituents for who they are had resonated. Lee Tepper, board chair of Kaleidoscope Youth Center, Ohio’s oldest and largest youth center serving queer young people, is pragmatic. “We are not in a system that is going to offer us a choice that’s gonna feel good in every dimension. We’re going to have to sacrifice.” I could hear the restrained sigh in Tepper’s voice when they added, “But that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice people, right?”
“She’s way, way better on trans issues than Vivek Ramaswamy,” Whaley added. It’s hard to argue with her there.
In a nation polarized by culture wars, such controversies remain commonplace. Yet Jessica Taylor, Senate and governors editor of The Cook Political Report, recently cited Acton’s campaign as one that is breaking with her party’s expected norms. “It goes back to the idea that Democrats just need to come across as normal and not woke,” Taylor told The New York Times.
Cynics may see Acton’s recent maneuvers as mere political theater. Some supporters now worry she is Republican-lite. But an optimistic progressive Democrat might consider Acton the state’s best shot for something different, finally.
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