Democrat Amy Acton runs for Ohio governor in 2026

Amy Acton, Ohio's former health director, is running as a Democrat for governor in the 2026 general election.

Acton faces Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Libertarian Don Kissick, according to BallotReady election data. She is certified for the ballot. Her running mate is David Pepper, former Ohio Democratic Party chair, whom Acton chose in January 2026, according to her Wikipedia biography.

Candidate information

Party: Democratic
Office sought: Ohio Governor
Election date: Nov. 3, 2026
Birthplace: Youngstown, Ohio (born Feb. 16, 1966)
Education: Bachelor's degree from Youngstown State University; doctorate in medicine (1990) from Northeast Ohio Medical University; master's in public health from The Ohio State University
Announced candidacy: Jan. 7, 2025

Acton was the first woman to serve as director of the Ohio Department of Health, according to Wikipedia. She received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2021 from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for that work. USA Today named her Ohio Woman of the Year in 2022.

Experience and public service

Acton served as director of the Ohio Department of Health from 2019 to 2020 and then as chief health advisor in the office of Governor Mike DeWine, according to BallotReady and Wikipedia. She also served as director of Project LOVE (Love Our Kids, Vaccinate Early), as an associate professor at The Ohio State University and as community research and grants management officer at The Columbus Foundation.

After leaving state government, Acton helped found the Center for Human Kindness at the Columbus Foundation, according to Wikipedia. She led RAPID 5 as president and chief executive officer from 2022 to 2023.

On the issues

Acton's campaign website outlines positions on several policy areas. All statements below are the candidate's own claims.

Healthcare and costs: Acton said she would use state power to reduce prescription drug costs, crack down on pharmacy benefit managers, demand more transparency from hospitals and insurance companies, stop surprise billing and create partnerships to address medical debt. She also said she would protect reproductive freedom, including access to abortion care, contraception, fertility treatments and miscarriage care.

Education: Acton said she would restore public school funding to a constitutional level, gain control of what she called an opaque private school voucher system with runaway costs, and reinvest savings in students, teachers and best practices.

Economy and workers: Acton said she would conduct a top-to-bottom review of JobsOhio, requiring more transparency and accountability. She said she would support small businesses, expand workforce development and invest in broadband and transportation infrastructure. On workers' rights, Acton said she would combat efforts to attack unions and collective bargaining, take on wage theft and keep right-to-work legislation out of Ohio. She also said new data centers are causing utility bills to increase and pledged that consumers would not shoulder those added costs.

Government reform: Acton said she would mandate more disclosure, reform campaign finance and open bidding and contracting processes.

Public safety: Acton said she would fully fund police and public safety and pursue what she called common-sense reforms to reduce gun violence.