Both parties’ candidates for governor in Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton, held events on Oct. 14, with a clear contrast. In the final weeks, much has been made about Acton’s closed press events and not merely by Republicans.
Ramaswamy spoke at the Columbus Metropolitan Club on Wednesday. Acton meanwhile held an event at WOSU Public Media’s Sandy and Andy Ross Community Studio.
The Columbus Dispatch reported ahead of Wednesday’s event that “Columbus Metropolitan Club officials offered the Acton campaign an opportunity to participate in a similar event, but they did not commit, according to CMC.”
“Her decision to perpetually hide from regular Ohioans is a pattern and it should be a grave concern to every voter,” Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told the Daily Signal about Acton. “Before we put her in charge of the 7th largest state in America, she must prove she’s capable of leading. Leaders cannot hide the way she has this entire campaign.”
It wasn’t just a partisan narrative, however. Randy Ludlow of WOSU.org posted about the event being closed to the press.
Others have also highlighted how a student from the OSU student newspaper, The Lantern, was denied access.
Darrell Rowland, a retired local journalist, also took note in a series of posts. This included how it was a “really bad day for Amy Acton on the campaign trail…”
The Daily Signal reached out to the Acton campaign for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
Ramaswamy’s event included a conversation with Karen Kasler, the bureau chief for The Statehouse News Bureau. Before answering his first question, Ramaswamy said he wished Acton showed up, for it to be “that much more productive.”
Ramaswamy also addressed Acton’s events being closed to the press and her refusal to debate him when taking a question from Kasler on negative campaign ads.
“She doesn’t want the public to know her either and that’s why she’s hiding from debate. That’s why she doesn’t allow cameras at her events. That’s unheard of for someone running for governor of Ohio,” Ramaswamy said, which he called “legitimate factors for voters to take into account when families are entrusting the next governor to take on a monumental budget of $100 billion, 12 million families, the 7th largest economy in the country, the 7th largest state in the union.
“This is not fun and games. This is a serious choice. And I think the fact of her refusal to debate or allow cameras at her events, I think, tells the public what they need to know about which criticisms are true and which criticisms to whom they’re directed are false.”
Ramaswamy has spoken about lowering property taxes to pre-pandemic levels, with Vice President JD Vance lauding those plans on the campaign trail. Kasler and Ramaswamy discussed making sure that “communities are not left short.”
Ramaswamy also called for focusing on data centers “locally” and “holistically,” also speaking arguing “it’s kind of obvious” that data center companies “have done a horrific job of earning public trust.”
To Ramaswamy, it’s about “what is the benefit to Ohioans, to a local community of building a data center,” as he brought up a plan previously announced.
When taking questions from the audience, another major topic came up that Ramaswamy has discussed on the campaign trail: the need to combat waste, fraud, and abuse.
“We have to combat the waste, fraud, and abuse in a lot of these programs, particularly Medicaid,” he insisted, sharing how Medicaid is the largest line item in the budget, at about $47 billion per year, but that estimates show at least 10% is going to people who should not receive it, or $4.7 billion a year.
Ramaswamy spoke to a plan of working with the federal government that allows Ohio to keep most of the dollars saved. His ideas also involve work requirements and “smoothing out benefit cliffs.”
The Republican nominee’s role as a political outsider also came up, in how “government doesn’t operate like a business,” as Ramaswamy was asked how he will “reconcile the two to serve all Ohioans?”
“Government absolutely does not operate like a business and it is not a business,” he replied. “But I think there are certain skills that an outsider business leader who has built successful enterprises can bring to the leadership of government,” Ramaswamy continued, as he spoke to working with “seasoned leaders,” including Senate President Rob McColley, his running mate.
Ramaswamy then took shots at Acton. “And I think somebody who’s run a budget, who’s run a large-scale company, who has signed the front of a paycheck rather than the back of one, is going to be better equipped to handle that job than someone whose sole qualification for the job is a short-lived stint as health director before quitting the longest job she’s ever held.”
He also warned about not getting it right.
“I don’t want to be in a place where we wake up nine months from now, and we are talking about data centers and property taxes in a budget that isn’t working, when we ask ourselves, what could we have done? The answer what we could do now is inform yourself and vote for the person who’s capable of actually improving your life by managing that budget in a way that a competent executive has to,” Ramaswamy shared.
This race is regarded a “toss-up.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
