Despite neither having been elected to public office, Ohio’s main gubernatorial candidates in the 2026 election are well recognized at the state and national levels.
November’s election to decide Ohio’s 71st governor matches Democrat Amy Acton, who served as the state’s Health Director during the COVID-19 pandemic, against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been a national figure since his anti-woke corporate messages in 2021 and his run for U.S. President in the 2024 election.
Ohio is one of 36 states selecting their next governor on November 3. Those states choosing their next state leader are currently divided at 18 Democratic and 18 Republican governors. According to Ballotpedia, entering the 2026 election there are 26 states administered by Republican governors and 24 guided by Democratic governors.
Among Ohio’s 70 previous state leaders, there have been 27 Republicans and 20 Democrats who have held office – as well as 17 governors affiliated with other parties, such as Democratic-Republican, Whig and Union. Republicans have held Ohio’s highest office the past 16 years under Mike DeWine (since 2019) and John Kasich (2011-2019). Ted Strickland (2007-2011) was the most-recent Democrat to hold the office of Ohio Governor.
Both Ramaswamy and Acton will mark notable achievements if elected Ohio Governor.
By securing the most votes, Ramaswamy, at age 41, will become one of the youngest to be elected Ohio Governor. The 59th Ohio Governor, William O’Neill, was 40 years, 11 months old when he was sworn into office Jan. 14, 1957.
Acton would become the first woman to be elected Ohio Governor. Nancy Hollister, one of four women to serve as the state’s Lieutenant Governor, was appointed as Ohio’s 66th governor – serving 12 days from Dec. 31, 1998-Jan. 11, 1999 – when Gov. George Voinovich left office at the end of his second term to begin serving in the U.S. Senate.
Let’s learn more about Ohio’s 2026 gubernatorial candidates and their running mates:
Amy Acton – Democrat
A native of Youngstown, Amy Acton, 60, has spent more than half her life in the public health and wellness field. She became known statewide when she was appointed by Gov. DeWine to lead the Ohio Department of Health (DOH) in 2019 – which coincided with the early days of the COVID pandemic.
During the pandemic, Acton became widely recognized as she joined Gov. DeWine in daily press briefings to provide virus data and safety measures. Acton’s demeanor in providing guidance in mitigating COVID earned her national praise – as she received a COVID Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and was named by USA Today as Woman of the Year for Ohio.
Acton received her medical degree from Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine and her master’s degree in public health from The Ohio State University. She taught at the OSU College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Research Institute’s Center for Injury Research & Policy.
A central Ohio resident since beginning her medical training and residency, Acton worked for the Columbus Foundation as a community outreach and grants management officer from 2017 until joining the DeWine Administration. Among the Foundation’s focuses are combating youth homelessness and enhancing women’s health.
Following service as Ohio’s DOH Director, Acton returned to the Columbus Foundation and helped start its Center for Human Kindness, where she worked with CEOs, mayors and community advocates in promoting community health. She resigned from the Foundation in 2021 when she briefly considered running for the U.S. Senate.
Prior to announcing her run for governor in January 2025, Acton provided keynote addresses throughout Ohio and served as President/CEO of RAPID5 – a central Ohio non-profit focusing on wellness by connecting hiking and bike trails to water corridors.
Her gubernatorial campaign centers on affordability and supporting the working class, which includes medical debt, prescription costs and healthcare relief. In January, Acton selected David Pepper as her running mate.
Acton, who was uncontested in May’s primary, resides in Bexley with her husband, Eric, a public-school teacher. The couple has six children.
David Pepper
A fifth-generation Cincinnatian, David Pepper has worked as a lawyer, writer, political activist, elected official, adjunct professor and chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.
Pepper, 55, graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and earned his juris doctorate from Yale Law School. Working as an attorney with Cincinnati law firms Squire Sanders Boggs and Blank Rome, he focuses his practice on commercial, business and appellate litigation.
He entered public office on his first try – winning a seat on Cincinnati City Council and serving from 2001-05. Over the next 10 years, Pepper served on the Hamilton County Commission – including as president from 2009-2010; ran for Ohio Auditor and Ohio Attorney General in 2010 and 2014, respectively; and was elected Ohio Democratic Party Chair – serving from 2015-2021.
A fiction and political writer, Pepper has authored several novels and is an adjunct professor teaching classes in election and voting rights at the University of Cincinnati School of Law.
Pepper and his wife, Alaina, have two children and reside in Cincinnati.
Vivek Ramaswamy – Republican
A Cincinnati native, Vivek Ramaswamy, 41, has made a name for himself at the national level not only as a leading conservative voice but also in the biotech field.
The Harvard University alumnus, where he graduated summa cum laude in biology, began his career as a biotech investor. Prior to turning 30, Ramaswamy had added a law degree from Yale University and became Founder/Executive Chairman of Roivant Sciences – a biopharmaceutical company. Along with leading large biotech initial public offerings (IPOs), the first-generation American was featured on the Forbes cover at age 30 due to his work in drug development.
Ramaswamy became well-known outside the biotech field in the 2020s. Leading up to him writing New York Times bestseller “Woke, Inc.,” he was recognized as a “prominent national commentator on stakeholder capitalism, free speech and work culture.”
While he initially considered representing Ohio by running for U.S. Senate in 2022, his first political run came in 2023. Ramaswamy ran as the youngest presidential candidate in the 2024 Republican primaries – appearing in five national debates. Though he dropped out of the presidential race, Ramaswamy impressed on the national stage. His support of Donald Trump led him to briefly serve as a co-leader for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – which was tasked with cutting wasteful federal spending.
Ramaswamy, who brings a political message of lower taxes and improved education, healthcare, jobs and public safety, announced he was running for governor in February 2025 and selected Rob McColley as his running mate in January.
In May’s primary election, Ramaswamy earned the Republican nomination for governor by receiving 82.5% of the votes in defeating northwest Ohio business owner Casey Putsch.
Ramaswamy resides in the Columbus area with his wife, Apoorva, who is a throat surgeon at Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute at The Ohio State University as well as an assistant professor at OSU. The couple has three children.
Rob McColley
In his more than a decade of government service in the Ohio House and Senate, Rob McColley has earned the confidence of both his constituents and fellow state legislators.
McColley, 42, majored in finance and graduated with a business degree from The Ohio State University and later earned his juris doctorate from the University of Toledo College of Law.
Prior to his political career, which began in the Ohio House of Representatives in 2015, McColley worked with the Community Improvement Corporation of Henry County, where he oversaw economic development and worked to improve workforce development among manufacturers and high school students.
Following two years in the Ohio House – where he was named Assistant Majority Whip, McColley was appointed to the Ohio Senate in 2017. Sen. McColley has served in the Ohio Senate for nine years.
Reelected in 2024, Sen. McColley was unanimously selected Ohio Senate President in January 2025.
McColley and his wife, Denise, have three children and reside in Napoleon.