COLUMBUS, OHIO — Dr. Amy Acton, a Democrat who is running unopposed in her party’s primary for governor of Ohio, faces some big challenges in the upcoming general election.
She is trying to become the first Democrat in 20 years to win office in a state that has become dominated by Republicans. Her supposed opponent Republican Vivek RamaswamyHe has a national name and personal wealth to invest in his election campaign.
But Acton’s biggest obstacle may be a specter from her recent past: the Ghost Covid-19 pandemic.
Acton, a physician, was Ohio’s public health director when the coronavirus struck the United States in early 2020, causing a wave of deaths, anxiety and social unrest. As the government cracked down on it, Acton became a household name throughout Ohio.
Six years later, Acton signed the orders At the request of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine To fight the virus – close schools, close businesses, restrict sporting events, and Comment voting In the 2020 primaries — she’s attracting new attention While running for the highest office in the state It became a central line of Republican criticism.
During election rallies, Ramaswamy accused Acton of spreading dangerous “Covid ideology.” Her campaign said she didn’t think voters would buy her.
“Dr. Acton is proud of the work she has done alongside Governor DeWine to put public health over politics, save lives and keep Ohioans safe,” her campaign spokesman, Addie Bullock, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that Vivek Ramaswamy wants to play politics on this issue.”
Acton, wearing a white medical coat, was a fixture at daily COVID-19 briefings with DeWine that were highly anticipated events watched in homes across the state. Day after day, she explained calmly Path of the virusand the grim trajectory of hospitalizations and deaths, and offered reassuring advice about how Ohioans should handle themselves.
“Oh, put on the mask, put on your cape,” Acton said at the time, urging ordinary people to act like superheroes.
In Ohio and elsewhere, the social trauma of the pandemic has not yet fully healed. It has changed the way millions of people in the United States view vaccines, how deeply government intrusions into daily life, and even whether people can trust government health officials.
The uncertainty lurking beneath the surface, which persists even as fears about contracting the virus fade, has emerged as an unusual story in the race for governor.
Ramaswamy, the Republican front-runner, is running ads capitalizing on the ongoing anger over… Election order Which Acton issued to DeWine. At Republican events across the state, the mention of Acton’s name elicits loud boos.
“Do we choose freedom or do we choose Fauci?” asked Zach Haines, a Republican campaigning for the state Senate, referring to former national infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci as the candidate prepped Ramaswamy’s latest fundraising rally. “Do we choose freedom or do we choose lockdowns?”
At Democratic events, Acton carries the air of a religious heroine who, in 2020, inspired a fan club for Dr. Amy Acton with her yard signs, a bobble-head doll, and a proposal to honor her with a state holiday.
On the campaign trail this year, she appears to tread carefully when discussing her time as Ohio’s health chief, sometimes avoiding using the words “COVID-19” or coronavirus.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve at a very difficult moment,” she told a Democratic crowd in southwest Ohio in March. “I’m proud of Ohioans, because together we flattened this curve and saved so many lives.”
Ohio ranked 22nd among states in terms of per capita death rate due to the virus during the first year of the pandemic, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Acton, who Leave the job In mid-2020, he does not address what happened after the government imposed restrictions: Revolt against DeWine On business closures and health mandates, Republican legislation to limit the governor’s powers and protesters, some armed, outside her home.
At a recent symposium at the Forum of Nations in Columbus, where people from across the political spectrum came together to try to find common ground within… “Make America Healthy Again” movement.Acton said she has served or advised five different governors.
“So I will work with anyone who wants to solve a problem rather than create a problem, which is what Ohioans long for,” she said.
While he endorsed Ramaswamy, DeWine denounced the campaign’s ad against Acton for suspending the 2020 primary.
“I asked her to issue the health order,” he said. “The decision was mine.”
Ramaswamy and another prominent Republican running in this year’s midterm elections have their own ties to Ohio’s pandemic response.
As CEO of Roivant Sciences, a biotechnology research company he founded in 2014, Ramaswamy “worked with the lieutenant governor as an advisor on COVID-19” during 2020, he wrote in 2021 Editorial. The lieutenant governor at the time, Republican Jon Husted, is now a U.S. senator running for re-election and was a regular participant alongside Acton and DeWine in daily briefings on the virus in Ohio.
One of Roivant’s subsidiaries, Jenniferant Sciences, also played an “instrumental role,” according to A March press release. The statement announced a $2.2 billion settlement with Moderna over its unauthorized use of Genevant and Biopharma’s Arbutus patents in Covid vaccines.
During the pandemic, Ramaswamy, whose wife is a doctor, has been supportive of vaccines. He’s had one himself and has called for wearing masks, though he said he’s never supported governments mandating either.
One of Ramaswamy’s companies, Datavant, has even pushed for the creation of a national Covid-19 registry that would be used to allow a small segment of the population that was gradually building up natural immunity to Covid-19 to “return to normal life” while the rest continue to be “quarantined”.
But since he entered politics for 2024 presidential raceRamaswamy took steps to distance himself from those days. In early 2023, he resigned from Roivant’s board of directors and reference to his service on Ohio’s “COVID-19 Response Team” was deleted from his Wikipedia page. He described this as a simple correction, saying that the committee had never met.
His campaign referred questions about his time at Roivant to the company, which did not respond to an email seeking comment.
In an interview, Ramaswamy said his support for coronavirus registration and his conversations with Husted included “getting the economy moving again.” While he described his position on the virus as “nuanced,” he said he intends to hold Acton accountable for the decisions to close businesses and schools in Ohio and suspend voting in the 2020 primary, which was ultimately conducted by mail-in ballot.
“As a decision maker, you have to weigh the costs and benefits of your actions,” he said. “You can’t be disconnected from the data.”