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May 3rd Len’s Political Note #724 Amy Acton Ohio Governor
2026 General Election
Amy Acton
In 2025, only one of Ohio’s Supreme Court justices is a Democrat. Neither of the US Senators is a Democrat. Democrats lost their one US Senator in 2024, though Sherrod Brown might try a comeback in 2026. The termed out Governor of Ohio is a Republican. Not one of the other constitutional executive officers is a Democrat. Five of the fifteen Members of congress are Democrats, though Republicans state legislators, who will redistrict again, appear to be targeting two of the remaining Democrats.
Other than Governor Mike DeWine whose son is one of the state Supreme Court Justices, Republican state-wide elected office holders have an angle for how to deal with term limits. The term limited Attorney General is running for governor. The term limited State Auditor is running for Attorney General. The term limited Secretary of State is running for State Auditor. The term limited State Treasurer is running for Secretary of State.
Was all of this decided in a cigar smoke filled back room? Not quite. And the Attorney General is the underdog in the primary for Governor. Elon Musk’s erstwhile partner in DOGE is the favorite to win the nomination for Governor – Vivek Ramaswamy.
Republicans may be dominant in Ohio, but they are not that dominant. Most of these Republican seat switchers won elections by between three and seven points. Amy Acton, the only Democratic candidate for governor, however, has not won any elections at all. A medical doctor, she was Ohio’s Medical Director during the pandemic, appointed to that position by then newly elected Republican governor Mike DeWine.
When Amy Acton was appointed Medical Director in February, 2019, she was the last appointee of governor Mike DeWine who had been elected in November 2018, Amy Acton was an unknown. She was an unknown living in the state capital, Columbus, with her second husband, a middle school teacher and track coach, and, between them, their six children. Because she was living in Columbus, the odds were a little better that the Governor and those who helped him with personnel decisions would have known about her.
They would have known that she was an Associate Professor at Ohio State’s College of Medicine and Public Health. They would have known that Amy Acton had worked for the Columbus Foundation as a community research and grants management officer. They would have known that she had directed Project LOVE in Columbus (Love Our kids, Vaccinate Early). They might even have known that she had been a Barack Obama supporter. No matter. Medical Director was not a political position.
They would have known she was a Jewish doctor. They might have known something more about her – that she was from Youngstown, a place with plenty of hardscrabble stories. Few of those stories were more hardscrabble than Amy Acton’s.
With her troubled, divorced mother, she lived in 18 places over 12 years. One of those 18 places was a tent during an Ohio winter. In an interview in 2020, she recalled the many families who provided food for her and her brother. And she described the many people who did not allow their children to play with her and her brother because, as she remembered it, they were “dirty” and “smelly,”
Ultimately, placed her with her father, she found enough support and stability so she had a successful high school experience. She made the National Honor Society, was Homecoming Queen, and went to Youngstown State and to Northeast Ohio Medical University (now a part of Youngstown State). Her horizons expanded. She had a residency at Albert Einstein in New York City and another at Nationwide Hospital in Columbus.
As state Medical Director, Amy Acton was an enormous success. In March of 2020, the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a story headlined: Michigan has 3 times more coronavirus cases that Ohio: 2,294 v 704. Why? The story adds that there had been 43 deaths in Michigan, 10 in Ohio. And the story explains. Ohio shut down more thoroughly and more rapidly.
The Plain Dealer story does not make it clear, but Amy Acton was the reason for the difference: Amy Acton and the willingness of Republican Governor Mike DeWine to follow her advice. Through her leadership, Ohio even cancelled the presidential primary, then changed it to mail in ballots.
Amy Acton worked at sustaining public understanding of the disease and state action against the disease. Getting state-wide coverage, she and/or the Governor appeared daily at 2:00pm — “Wine with DeWine” or “Snackin’ with Acton.” Her achievements were eventually recognized. She received the JFK Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award, the Columbus Foundation’s Spirit of Columbus Award. Ohio State awarded her, as an alum, the Alumni Medalist Award.
Helpful as the wine and snacks may have been on television, the deep anger people felt at their lives being disrupted by mask wearing mandates, distance requirements, and the school and business closures became directed at the state medical office and at Amy Acton.
The State legislature felt the pressure of opposition to regulations and voted on limiting the Medical Directors emergency authority. By May of 2020, she was beset by protesters at her home and at her press conferences. By June, she needed a security detail. Called a “globalist,’ a frequent anti-Jewish slur and that was not the only attack with an anti-Semitic character. In June, she resigned from the Medical Director position, though she remained as an advisor to the Governor. She resigned from the advisory position in August.
The pandemic seems an age ago. We still don’t understand its impact. We know that eventually Michigan and Ohio had comparable covid consequences: 3.4 million cases in Ohio and more than 42,000 deaths; 3.1 million cases in Michigan and more than 43,000 deaths in Michigan.
Amy Acton went back to work for the Columbus Foundation, considered a Senate run in 2022, became the head of a non-profit focused on Columbus’s parks, and, in 2024, began thinking about a run for Governor. When she announced her candidacy she said. “It’s not OK with me that Ohioans don’t live as long as people do in other states. It’s not OK with me to watch what used to be a top education system, state-of-the-art education system, begin to fall year after year after year. It’s not OK with me that our GDP is like 45th and our biggest export is Ohioans, is young people.”
Early support for Amy Acton could make her competitive, even in Ohio. DONATE. Give her the time and money she will need for Ohio to elect its first Democratic governor since Ted Strickland left office in 2011.
GIVE OF YOURSELF AS WELL.
Join peaceful demonstrations. I hope you found a place to march on May 1. Create your own demonstration. Do you collect social security. Consider organizing a demonstration in front of your local social security office (f there still is one). Tell them you want social security to remain as crucial to your life as it is now. Call your Senators and Congress Members. Remind them that social security is a necessity.
STATEWIDE ELECTIONS
2025
Virginia elects a governor this November.
Abigail Spanberger is a former Member of Congress and former member of the CIA. The term limited Republican governor cannot run for reelection, but his Lt. Governor, extremist Winsome Earl-Sears is the Republican candidate. While Abigail Spanberger appears to be the favorite in this contest, at this stage she needs our support. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #705.
Begin making regular donations for 2026 elections
Georgia
Georgia’s US Senator Jon Ossoff. A former Congressional aide and investigative documentary film reporter. He was elected in 2020 (2021 including the runoff) by a 50.6-49.4 margin. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #717
Arizona
Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs. A former social worker and secretary of state. She was elected in 2022 by a 50.3 – 49.7 margin. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #712
Arizona’s Attorney General Kristin Mayes. A law professor and former Republican state Corporate Commission Member. She was elected Attorney General as a Democrat in 2022 by 280 votes, a 50.01-49.99 margin. DONATE. See Len’s. Political Note #714
Ohio
Ohio’s Democratic Secretary of State candidate Bryan Hambley. An appealing Dr. Smith goes to Columbus running for an open Republican seat. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #715
Wisconsin
Tony Evers running for reelection. He has been helping Wisconsin recover from eight years of draconian government. Now, with a good election year and redistricting, he might have a Democratic legislature to work with. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #723
North Carolina
Support Democrat Allison Riggs in her effort to stay on the North Carolina Supreme Court and protect voting rights. She won the election in November. Her opponent, Republican North Carolina Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin challenged 65,000+ voters who met North Carolina requirements when they registered to vote, but new laws called for additional information from them.
The state Supreme Court ruled that approximately 60,000 votes did not have to be withdrawn; that the registration of about 5,000 military votes without photo IDs had to be “cured” for their votes to count (presumably through providing photo IDs), and about 200 votes by North Carolina voters who had never lived in the state would be withdrawn from the voter count (these would include, for instance, children of North Carolina ex-patriots who turned 21 while abroad). This ruling probably ensures Allison Riggs’ victory, but does not end the law suit.
Allison Riggs will continue her lawsuit to preserve the voting rights of members of the military and members of the ex-patriot community. The Fourth Circuit has temporarily prohibited North Carolina from “curing” ballots. You can DONATE and help Justice Riggs continue with her law suit.
