Amy Acton faces renewed criticism for banning recording of campaign events, denying media entry
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton is facing renewed scrutiny and growing backlash for refusing to allow journalists to cover her events and for barring recording.
As the Statehouse News Bureau reported, before a recent Cincinnati campaign event, Jordan Hawkins, Acton’s campaign political director, told attendees they could take photos, but they could not record the event.
“We love pictures. We don’t love video. And we don’t love audio,” Hawkins said, per the report. “There’s no audio or video. You can take as many pictures as you like.”
EXCLUSIVE: A senior staffer for Amy Acton's campaign for governor caught on video telling crowd to not record video or audio before she takes the stage.
Why? Because they're afraid to show Ohio who Amy Acton really is. pic.twitter.com/OWNvxMSlU8
— Ohio Republican Party (@ohiogop) October 5, 2026
Acton made headlines again after renting WOSU Public Media’s Sandy and Andy Ross Community Studio for a campaign rally that included students from The Ohio State University. However, as WOSU reported, she didn’t allow reporters, including those from WOSU and Ohio State’s The Lantern, to attend, and she didn’t take reporters’ questions after the event.
“The guy basically said that this is a closed, private event, and when I first walked in, he was just like, ‘no backpacks inside. Go over there. That’s where the event is,” Cameron Dewey, a Lantern reporter, told his outlet about how the [campaign] wouldn’t allow him entry to cover the event. “I [could] see everyone in there. But once I said I was with the press, he said I wasn’t allowed in.”
Additionally, Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health who quit amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has also steadfastly refused to debate her Republican opponent, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
“We need more of this in our state and in our country,” Ramaswamy said during a recent appearance at the Columbus Metropolitan Club, WOSU reported. “Open dialogue and I’m grateful for this opportunity today. My only wish is that my opponent could have been here with me, because I think that would make it that much more productive.”
Polls show the Nov. 3 race to be a tight one. While Acton has led in several polls, a new poll showed Ramaswamy with a slight advantage.
Those polls came before a video emerged of a field organizer with the Ohio Democratic Party saying the drive to socialism will take time, and it starts with Democrat Amy Acton’s election as governor.
Look at this: Amy Acton’s campaign posted this sign outside their event. What is wrong with her? What is she hiding?
Here’s the answer: Amy Acton is an unhinged liberal who is in over her head. She’s hiding it, and she doesn’t want YOU to know. https://t.co/fLeu2KMStp pic.twitter.com/2QdyCHeiTu
— Ohio Republican Party (@ohiogop) October 14, 2026
Ramaswamy’s running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, told WOSU that Acton’s stance does a disservice to Ohioans.
“I think it’s a reflection of the fact that she’s scared to actually have her views and her ideas out in front of the general public,” he told WOSU.
“And number two, I think it’s a reflection of the fact that she can’t withstand the pressure of the public scrutiny of having her views and everything out in the public,” McColley added. “And really the biggest detriment to this is, of course, the open exchange of ideas leading up to an election.”
Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, which has released several undercover videos showing leaders at Ohio schools flouting state law, told Ohio.News that voters should be able to see and hear those seeking office.
“When I saw that she wouldn’t allow people to record her own events, I was morally outraged,” he said. “We live in a world in which the government has cameras aimed after us at all times, whether they be Flock cameras or traffic light cameras. But the government has cameras on the populace nonstop, and the notion that she’s terrified of the populace having cameras on the governance is outrageous.
“People wonder why we do hidden camera investigative journalism,” Guillette added. “It’s because these people don’t want to be open and honest and on the record with people in public, and in a world in which they hyper-focus on recording everything we do and monitoring us online, I think the American people deserve to have as many cameras as possible on the politicians.”
The president of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association, the organization of mainstream media outlets that issues credentials for Ohio Statehouse access and can freeze out publications it dislikes, did not respond to a request for comment on Acton’s decision.
