ELECTION UPDATE — Vivek Ramaswamy Learns His Fate in Ohio Race
Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy is getting an encouraging sign as Ohio’s closely watched race for governor enters its final two months.
A Fox News poll conducted Aug. 6-10 found Ramaswamy leading Democratic nominee Amy Acton 50% to 48% among registered voters. The two-point margin falls within the survey’s three-point margin of error.
A separate Wedgewood Polls survey conducted in August found Acton ahead 47% to 46%, underscoring how competitive the contest remains.
Ramaswamy, a Cincinnati-area entrepreneur who gained national prominence during his 2024 presidential campaign, entered the gubernatorial contest with President Donald Trump’s endorsement and went on to secure the Republican nomination in May.
He is seeking to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Acton, a physician and former director of the Ohio Department of Health, became one of the state’s most recognizable public officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her tenure during that period has become a major dividing line in the campaign, with Republicans criticizing restrictions imposed while she led the department and Democrats emphasizing her public-health experience.
Ramaswamy has focused his campaign on lowering costs, attracting businesses and high-paying jobs, improving education and changing parts of Ohio’s criminal justice system.
He has also sought to cast the election as a choice over the direction of a state where Republicans have dominated statewide politics for years.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee endorsed Ramaswamy, continuing the organization’s history of supporting Republican gubernatorial candidates including DeWine and former moderate GOP Gov. John Kasich.
The Chamber said its support reflected confidence in Ramaswamy’s economic and job-creation agenda.
🚨BREAKING: Vivek Ramaswamy is set to win against Amy Acton in the Ohio governor’s race by 2%.
Ohio – 2026 governor
🟥Vivek Ramaswamy 50% (+2)
🟦Amy Acton 48%See all OH governor polls @Pollsmax.
This is the first major poll after the primaries that Ramaswamy has led in.… pic.twitter.com/LnCsrqQ0kf
— Election Time (@ElectionTime_) August 17, 2026
Ramaswamy has also put substantial personal resources behind his campaign.
Campaign finance reports show he loaned his campaign more than $25 million, providing him with a sizable financial reserve heading into the general election.
Outside groups supporting Ramaswamy are spending heavily as well.
Elon Musk contributed $5 million to V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims, a super PAC established to support Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial bid.
Musk and Ramaswamy previously worked together during the early formation of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The Musk contribution adds to millions of dollars already supplied by wealthy donors supporting Ramaswamy. Investor Jeff Yass has contributed $20 million to V-PAC, according to campaign finance reporting, while other major donors have provided millions more.
The super PAC has committed heavily to television advertising and other efforts designed to promote Ramaswamy across Ohio.
The financial landscape surrounding the race comes amid broader changes to campaign spending rules.
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on coordinated spending between political parties and their candidates, ruling that the restrictions violated the First Amendment.
The decision gives national and state party committees greater freedom to spend in coordination with federal candidates.
The Supreme Court also intervened Sept. 4 in a separate dispute over discounted television and radio advertising rates, temporarily allowing party committees to continue benefiting from lower broadcast rates while the litigation proceeds.
Republicans entered the final stretch of the midterms with a substantial fundraising advantage at the national party and congressional committee levels.
For Ramaswamy, the combination of a closely divided electorate, a large campaign war chest and significant outside spending ensures that the Ohio governor’s race will remain one of the most heavily financed and closely watched statewide contests heading into November.
Letitia 'No One's Above the Law' James Just Got Sued And You Won't Stop Clapping
Letitia ‘No One’s Above the Law’ James Just Got Sued And You Won’t Stop Clapping
New York Attorney General Letitia James loves to sermonize that “No one is above the law,” but her record shows she really means “No one named Trump is above my political agenda.” Her entire campaign was a single-issue crusade built on the promise to “Get Trump,” and she delivered by filing a bizarre, victimless “fraud” case against him that even the banks involved openly rejected. Not one financial institution claimed harm. Not one lender said they wouldn’t do business with him again.
But that didn’t stop Judge Arthur Engoron—whose bias was obvious from the bench—from imposing an eye-watering, politically convenient fine of nearly half a billion dollars. It was so grotesquely disproportionate that an appeals court finally tossed it in August, delivering a much-needed reality check to James’s lawfare spectacle.
That’s Letitia James in a nutshell—always pushing the ethical limits, always using the weight of her office to intimidate anyone she marks as a political foe. Bullying isn’t an unfortunate byproduct of her approach; it is her approach.
So it’s hardly shocking that a school board chair in New York is now suing the attorney general, accusing James of threatening to oust board members who refused to bow to the progressive orthodoxy on allowing biological men into women’s sports:
The alleged threats came in a “guidance letter” [from James] that warned of the removal of any school board member who uses the wrong pronoun for a trans person, or if they allow students to publicly speak out at school board meetings about their fears and discomfort with student trans athletes using the wrong locker room for their biological sex.
A plaintiff in the suit, Massapequa Union Free School District Board Chair Kerry Wachter, alleged she was told that James’ office instructed her to mute and dismiss any board meeting speaker that expressed views opposing trans athletes in girls’ locker rooms and sports.
Massapequa Union Free School District Board Chair Kerry Wachter, alleged she was told that James' office instructed her to mute and dismiss any board meeting speaker that expressed views opposing trans athletes in girls' locker rooms and sports.
Wachter says James’ intimidation tactics are designed to intimidate her and others into silence:
“They’re saying if we allow this discussion in our board meetings, she can come in and remove us from the board,” Wachter told Fox News Digital. “They want me to stop public comment and stop them from speaking.”
Wachter added that trans students were not being directly named in any board meetings, and conversations were only based around the feelings and concerns of female students.
James claimed that school board members can be removed when “they willfully neglect their duty or violate legal protections for students in their districts.” She went on to add that the state’s Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) bars harassment and bullying.
Nevertheless, Attorney Kim Hermann from the Southeastern Legal Foundation has a note for James – There is an important constitutional principle known as the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment here reigns true, and so whether or not you have these state laws, a state cannot come in and just erase the First Amendment out of the Constitution,” Hermann said, per Fox News. “Whether or not statements and discussions about transgender and these different policies actually violate those state laws is absolutely irrelevant for what we’re talking about in this lawsuit.
James has shown time and again that she’s not an impartial public servant but a partisan enforcer, eager to weaponize her office against anyone who lands on her enemies list. She doesn’t just stretch her authority — she twists it into a political bludgeon.
If there’s any justice left in New York, this lawsuit will stick and finally force some accountability. Frankly, it’s long past time someone pushed back.
