Acton far behind Ramaswamy in governor race funding despite record haul

Ohio's top 2026 Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton, left, and presumptive Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, right.

Ohio's top 2026 Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton, left, and presumptive Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, right.

The campaigns of Ohio’s leading Republican and Democratic 2026 gubernatorial candidates are both boasting record-breaking campaign finance contributions, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly close.

The campaign for former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton said Wednesday that her $1.35 million raised so far this election cycle sets “multiple fundraising records for a Democratic challenger for Governor,” with “more individual donors and more donations than any Democratic challenger for Governor in history at this point.”

The campaign boasted more than 17,000 individual donors with 90% of the nearly 33,000 total donations being $50 or less.

Acton’s haul prompted a response from the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican entrepreneur and ally of President Donald Trump, who has garnered numerous major GOP endorsements.

A news release pointed to a reported $9.7 million donated to Ramaswamy so far, with the following quote from his campaign strategist Jai Chabria regarding Acton’s war chest: “That’s cute.”

The press release says Ramaswamy’s funding has already “shattered all previous fundraising records for the year preceding a general election, underscoring the unprecedented enthusiasm behind his candidacy.”

On July 31, both campaigns will be required to report campaign finance data up through June 30, 2025, to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, which will then make the data publicly available.

On Wednesday, Acton’s campaign alleged that Ramaswamy had been relying on “personal wealth and billionaire donors” to fund his campaign.

“Amy is proud of the tens of thousands of small-dollar donations from grassroots supporters in all 88 counties,” said Campaign Manager Philip Stein. “We’re excited to continue to bring people together from all sides of the political spectrum who know she’s the right choice for governor.”


For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It’s free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening.

Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.

About the Author