Ramaswamy campaign agrees to debate — Acton campaign declines, opting to hurl insults instead

Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he has formally agreed to participate in debates against his Democratic opponent, but her campaign seemed less than enthusiastic.

In a release, the Ramaswamy campaign said it had received and accepted invitations to debate Amy Acton from CNN and WLWT-TV, an NBC News affiliate in Cincinnati. WLWT plans to stream the debate on WLWT.com and Very Local, its streaming platform, and to make it available to all Ohio media outlets.

“Ohioans deserve a substantive debate between their two candidates for Governor,” Ramaswamy said in a statement. “I challenge Amy Acton to join me on the debate stage so voters can make a well-informed choice in November.”

However, shortly after Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, announced his acceptance, Acton’s campaign manager Phil Stein sent a statement, seemingly declining to participate in the debates and resorting to name-calling.

“Dr. Acton’s focus is on talking with Ohioans,” Stein said, calling Ramaswamy “a scam artist.”

This is not a good look for Amy Acton's campaign…nor does it serve Ohio voters. https://t.co/a90wALotyo

— Darrel Rowland (@darreldrowland) September 2, 2026

Acton served as the director of the Ohio Department of Health in 2019 and 2020, and her actions during the COVID-19 pandemic were sure to be a hot topic during the debate. The Acton campaign hasn’t responded to previous questions from Ohio.News about her actions during the pandemic.

It’s too bad for Ohio voters that Acton won’t take voter questions, won’t debate, quit after failing as Ohio’s health director, and has some serious issues now surfaced in multiple police reports. We pray for her, but this isn’t someone fit to lead our state of 12 million people.

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) September 2, 2026

Acton has also faced scrutiny over two police callouts to her home, one in 2013 and another in 2019. The campaign hasn’t responded to questions from Ohio.News about the two police interactions.

As Ohio.News first reported, at 12:20 a.m. on June 16, 2013, Bexley police were dispatched to a home on Pleasant Ridge regarding a domestic disturbance. While they were diverted en route, a Capital University Police officer providing backup responded to the home and relayed the information to Bexley police.

According to a police report, Acton’s 16-year-old daughter returned home from a party intoxicated. Acton notified the girl’s father — her ex-husband, Douglas Beech — who later arrived at Acton’s home.

The daughter “apparently did not like this and thought her parents were going to get into some type of altercation,” according to a police report. “Both parents said they were fine and there was no altercation whatsoever.”

Reporting shows that in 2019 Acton’s daughter called police, telling a dispatcher Acton had “been drinking” and “throwing things and breaking glass.” The daughter reportedly told the dispatcher that her “step dad and mom are fighting and mom has been drinking and throwing things and breaking glass.”

The Acton campaign has previously tried to downplay the episode. In late June, the campaign fact-checked a statement purportedly from a super PAC.

“There was absolutely no evidence that Dr. Acton was intoxicated,” the campaign said in its fact check. “Her husband is on record stating she had only one drink.”

Apparently democracy is much easier when only one person gets the microphone.

You accuse Vivek of standing with predators and abusers, but won’t stand on a stage and debate him?

Is this the new campaign strategy? Just make the accusation and then run from the rebuttal?

— Mehek Cooke🇺🇸 (@MehekCooke) September 2, 2026