Democrat Amy Acton reportedly has no plans to debate Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor’s race.
Acton’s campaign manager, Phil Stein, announced the decision Wednesday, saying the campaign would not give Ramaswamy a stage to amplify what he described as false attacks.
“Dr. Acton’s focus is talking with Ohioans, not platforming a scam artist who spreads baseless lies about her and her family, uses AI to falsely paint her as someone with a substance abuse problem, and shames Dr. Acton for being sexually abused as a child while Vivek stands with predators and abusers,” Stein said.
He also accused Ramaswamy and wealthy allies of pouring more than $50 million into attack ads against Acton, calling the spots “disgusting” and inaccurate and saying they have been denounced as the “most vile and repulsive lies” Ohio has seen.
Reporter Henry Gomez noted that the unsubstantiated substance abuse claims trace back to a 2019 police response at Acton’s home, where, according to the report, she told officers she had been drinking and had taken an unknown amount of prescription medication.
Vivek Ramaswamy responded in a statement, describing debates as the “equivalent of a job interview.”
“Debates are the equivalent of a job interview for candidates running for office,” he said. “Candidates need to be willing to publicly debate and not shy away from them out of fear of scrutiny.”
“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,” he also said.
Vivek also shared a previous statement from Amy Acton’s running mate, David Pepper, who said in 2014 that not debating shows “contempt for voters and civic groups.”
“Amy Acton’s running mate says that refusing to debate shows ‘contempt for voters and civic groups’ and that ‘candidates owe it to their fellow Ohioans to stand next to each other to defend their positions.’ It’s a valid point, hopefully they talk it out amongst themselves,” he said.