Election 2026 Ohio Governor

Ohio's Republican primary for governor is a few weeks away, but there are few signs that the top candidate sees it as a competitive race. Nonetheless, the primary season has exposed potential vulnerabilities for former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The biotech billionaire is focused mostly on his likely general election opponent, Democrat Amy Acton. She's the state’s former public health director. Ramaswamy feels so assured of gliding through the May 5 vote that his campaign has all but ignored his GOP opponent so far. That's Casey Putsch, an engineer and vehicle designer who calls himself “The Car Guy.”

Democrat Amy Acton is running unopposed in her party’s primary for Ohio governor, but she'll face some steep challenges in the November general election. The physician's most formidable obstacle may be the COVID-19 pandemic. Acton was Ohio’s public health director when the coronavirus hit the United States in early 2020. More than six years later, the orders that Acton signed at the behest of the state’s Republican governor to battle the virus have become a central line of criticism from Republicans. Those orders included closing schools, shuttering businesses, restricting sporting events and even suspending voting during the 2020 primary election.