COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The election for Ohio governor is more than a year away, but Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton are both boasting fundraising records in the race. NBC4 has context for those results.
Acton, the doctor who led Ohio’s COVID-19 efforts and is currently the only Democrat in the race, set several party records for fundraising. Acton’s team initially said her $1.35 million raised was the “most ever by a Democratic challenger for Governor in July of an off-year.” However, Nan Whaley, the Democratic challenger in the 2022 gubernatorial race, raised $1.64 million in the same time frame.
Shortly after announcing Acton’s funds as record-breaking, her campaign released an updated announcement that separated Acton’s $1.35 million from her record-breaking campaign. However, the claim was not clearly redacted in the updated release and continues to be a talking point repeated among Democrats and printed in at least five Ohio publications. Acton herself reposted a tweet from 314 Action that said she broke “fundraising records with over $1.3M haul in her bid for Ohio governor.”
Acton’s campaign manager Philip Stein said reports like the tweet are correctly identifying Acton’s $1.35 million as a groundbreaking fundraising effort. Acton’s first six months in the race garnered more individual donors (17,000) and individual donations (33,000) than any previous Democratic candidate for governor. Acton also raised the most money through June of any of her predecessors.
Acton’s team said also it did beat the first-quarter Democratic record for gubernatorial fundraising, with $600,000 by the end of March. Stein said these records are the milestones Acton and others are referring to.
When comparing the two records, Ramaswamy is far outpacing Acton with his own record, $9.7 million raised so far in the election cycle. Although Ramaswamy said his fundraising is a “bottom-up movement across Ohio,” Acton has far more in-state donations.
According to campaign finance contribution records, just under 60% of Ramaswamy’s total fundraising came from Ohio, with out-of-state donations totaling nearly $4 million. NBC4 compared contribution records filed with the state to visualize where contributors are coming from.
Comparatively, in-state contributions dominate Acton’s campaign finance records. $1.17 million of Acton’s total fundraising came from in-state donations, about 90% of her contributions. As with Ramaswamy’s contributors above, the graph detailing Acton’s donors pulls from state campaign finance records.
According to campaign finance reports, Ramaswamy has had 83,436 contributions and Acton has had 34,946. All of Acton’s top 10 donations come from around Ohio. Ramaswamy’s top 10 donations include seven Ohioans, two donations from Texas and a donation from Florida.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a Republican, and former Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, are also reportedly considering races. Heather Hill is also vying for the governor’s seat, and on Tuesday said she was looking for a party to be the candidate for after stepping back from the Republican race. Governor-hopefuls have until early 2026 to declare their candidacy.
