Former Ohio health chief Amy Acton leads in polls — TIME

In the United States, Democrat Amy Acton, the former head of the Ohio Department of Health, is leading Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in polls ahead of the gubernatorial election. The race remains close, but survey results give Acton an edge, TIME reports.

Ramaswamy received the full backing of President Donald Trump shortly after announcing his campaign. This effectively narrowed the field of potential Republican candidates, which could have included state Attorney General Dave Yost, Treasurer Robert Sprague, and Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel.

Advertising spending

Ramaswamy and groups supporting him spent $101 million on advertising against Acton, with $36 million spent by the candidate himself. Acton and allied groups spent about a third of that amount. Their advertisements call Ramaswamy a fraudster who allegedly amassed his fortune by misleading investors. Ramaswamy denies these accusations.

The campaign against Acton also circulated claims related to an incident at her home in August 2019, to which police responded. Acton said that Ramaswamy significantly distorts the circumstances of the incident and refused to debate him because of it.

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A difficult campaign for the Republican

Ramaswamy presents himself as a candidate who would become the most conservative governor in Ohio's history. He supports tax cuts, economic development, data centers for artificial intelligence, and tough immigration policies.

In the Republican primary, Ramaswamy easily won the nomination, but nearly one-fifth of voters cast ballots for his opponent, Casey Putsch. University of Dayton political science professor Christopher Devine noted that Ramaswamy's identity as an Indian American and a Hindu may matter to part of the Republican electorate.

Ohio was previously considered one of the key states where election results were difficult to predict, but Trump won there in all three presidential elections by margins of eight to 11 percentage points. Republicans suggest that polling may underestimate their voters, while Democrats assess the gubernatorial race as even at best.