Ramaswamy in Valley predicts win Tuesday
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CANFIELD – Claudia Bell was impressed with seeing Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy this summer at the Canfield Fair and, a few months later, her excitement about seeing him again showed no signs of ebbing.
“He does try to connect with the people,” Bell, of Poland, said.
She was among the estimated 500 who registered for Ramaswamy’s rally Sunday evening at Waypoint 4180, 4180 Westford Place.
The gathering was part of the 2026 Ohio Republican bus tour that kicked off Oct. 23, with the first stop at a pancake breakfast in Strongsville. Earlier Sunday, Ramaswamy made a stop in Geneva and another one in Brimfield in Portage County before his Canfield appearance.
In all, the tour has made 31 stops in 31 counties, according to the Ohio Republican Party’s website.
Even though she didn’t cite anything specific that she hoped he would say at Sunday’s rally, Bell, who also is a Mahoning Valley Republican Women’s Club member, said she also appreciates Ramaswamy’s promise that, if elected governor, he will regulate data centers and ensure they produce their own energy. In addition, she appreciates that he is willing to host town hall sessions and be forthright regarding addressing people’s questions.
The other Republican candidates vying for public office are Robert A. McColley, lieutenant governor; Jon Husted, U.S. Senate; Keith Faber, Ohio attorney general; Colleen O’Donnell and Daniel R. Hawkins, Ohio Supreme Court; Jay Edwards, state treasurer; Frank LaRose, state auditor; and Robert Sprague, Ohio secretary of state.
Before Ramaswamy’s remarks, Edwards, Sprague, Larose, Faber, McColley and U.S. Rep. Michael A. Rulli, R-Salem, addressed the crowd. Husted was unable to attend.
“This election is a fork in the road for our country,” Ramaswamy told his enthusiastic audience. “We’re going to score a touchdown on Tuesday night.”
His key promises included lowering costs for Ohioans, delivering the state’s largest property tax cut by next year and ending sanctuary cities statewide. Achieving such goals is tantamount to common sense, he added.
Ramaswamy also asked audience members to encourage others to show up Tuesday at the polls.
“The personal responsibility is on each of your shoulders to bring out five other people who may not have voted in a midterm election,” he said.
Also during his remarks, Ramaswamy praised the veterans in the audience who served their country. At one point, he brought onstage a Vietnam War veteran who had been a protester at an event he led in Wayne County. After he listened to the woman’s concerns and sought her out, her views toward him softened and changed, and the two of them developed a friendship that has lasted more than a year, he added.
At one point, he blasted his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, for refusing to show up to debate him and said that Ohio needs a “competent, capable and conservative” leader in Columbus.
The business entrepreneur who founded a biotechnical pharmaceutical company in 2014 promised that if elected, he will fight for Ohioans to have a better and more affordable life.
“What makes Ohio exceptional is you,” he said.
Ramaswamy has come under fire in recent weeks for an ad his campaign aired against Acton, which showed her estranged biological mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar in reference to allegations that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, had raped her as a child. Mahoning County court documents showed that he had been charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was 12, and they revealed that after having been arrested, her stepfather posted bond then fled, and remained a fugitive until his death in 2004.
Many Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, denounced the ad, referring to it as “deeply disturbing.” He also summoned reporters to the Statehouse last week to condemn it and told Ramaswamy to pull the ad “immediately.”
On Thursday, Ramaswamy did so, claming “It ran to completion, and we’ve put up four other ads.”
“Vivek Ramaswamy should never have run this despicable ad in the first place, and it’s totally unsurprising that he took it off the air in the most cowardly way possible, without even the hint of an apology to Dr. Acton, her family or to the people of Ohio,” Acton spokeswoman Addie Bullock said. “Vivek Ramaswamy has shown Ohio exactly who he is: an out-of-touch, self-serving billionaire who will do anything and harm anyone to get what he wants.”
In response to the ad, late last month, three central Ohio venues – The Old Dog Ale House & Brewery in Delaware, CrossPointe Church near Columbus and Elliot’s Wood Fired Kitchen in Newark – canceled his appearances at their establishments. All three locations have been removed from the Ohio Republican Party’s website.
Unlike other rallies by statewide candidates in the Mahoning Valley and the state, no protesters were visible during the rally Sunday night.