Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dr. Amy Acton is challenging Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to sell his individual stock holdings tied to the data-center industry — and pledging that she will not hold individual stocks if elected governor.

Acton issued the challenge Tuesday as Ohio’s rapidly expanding data-center industry becomes an increasingly central issue in the governor’s race.

“I will not allow special interests, corporations, or billionaires to buy my state,” Acton said. “I am calling on Vivek Ramaswamy to sell his individual stock and commit to not investing in data centers.”

Acton added that she does not own individual stocks and pledged not to “invest in or possess individual stocks” while serving as governor.

She then took direct aim at Ramaswamy’s extensive investment portfolio.

“Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy has personally invested millions of dollars in data centers,” Acton said. “If elected, he would continue to sell Ohio out. Ohioans deserve a governor who cares about making their lives better, not a billionaire who is only out for himself.”

The attack comes just days after News 5 Cleveland examined both candidates’ financial disclosures and asked whether they would divest from investments connected to the data-center industry.

Ramaswamy did not respond to the station’s divestment question before its story was published. Acton’s campaign responded after the television report aired, saying she did not own individual stocks and would not invest in or possess them as governor.

Ramaswamy’s holdings reach across the data-center economy

Ramaswamy’s financial exposure to the industry is substantially broader.

TiffinOhio.net reported in May that Ramaswamy’s financial disclosures include investments throughout the data-center supply chain, including NVIDIA, Microsoft and Amazon, along with industrial real estate companies and an infrastructure fund with exposure to digital infrastructure.

Ramaswamy has held NVIDIA stock directly and through the Strive U.S. Semiconductor ETF, a fund he helped launch through the asset-management company he founded. His 2023 federal financial disclosure valued his stake in that semiconductor fund at between $1 million and $5 million.

Microsoft and Amazon are among the largest cloud-computing and data-center operators in the world, while NVIDIA produces the chips powering the artificial-intelligence infrastructure boom.

Ramaswamy has also disclosed investments in Prologis, Plymouth Industrial REIT, Rexford Industrial Realty and Terreno Realty, as well as a global infrastructure fund with exposure to digital infrastructure.

Those disclosures establish millions of dollars in investments connected to the broader data-center economy, although Acton’s description of Ramaswamy as having personally invested “millions of dollars in data centers” is broader than what the disclosures themselves show. The records document investments in companies and funds tied to the industry, rather than millions of dollars directly invested in individual Ohio data-center projects.

The next governor will have enormous influence over the industry

The financial question matters because Ohio’s next governor will wield significant power over how the data-center boom develops.

The governor appoints all nine members of the JobsOhio board, which plays a central role in negotiating economic-development incentives. The governor also appoints members of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates electric utilities and has already adopted special rules governing massive data-center electricity loads.

The administration also has influence over the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, which administers economic-development incentives at a time when lawmakers are reconsidering the enormous cost of tax breaks granted to data centers.

Ramaswamy has repeatedly supported continued data-center development in Ohio.

As TiffinOhio.net reported last week, he was recorded at least 10 times in 2025 calling Ohio’s emerging data-center boom good, great or something the state should welcome.

“We’ve got AI data centers moving to our state. That’s a good thing. It’s a good thing,” Ramaswamy said during one March 2025 appearance.

At another event, he said AI data centers and Bitcoin mining firms were industries “all of which I want in the state.”

Ramaswamy has since adopted a more restrictive position as opposition to hyperscale data centers has spread across Ohio. His current plan would temporarily stop new projects until lawmakers enact rules requiring developers to provide electricity or compensation to nearby residents, pay full property taxes and meet environmental and farmland protections.

Projects meeting those requirements would still be permitted to move forward.

Acton turns the conflict-of-interest question directly on Ramaswamy

Acton has also called for conditions on new data centers, arguing developers should bear the infrastructure costs associated with their enormous electricity demand rather than shifting those expenses onto residential customers.

Her newest pledge goes further by making personal financial interests part of the argument.

Instead of simply promising restrictions on the companies seeking approval from state government, Acton is now arguing that the governor should not personally own individual stocks that could rise or fall based on decisions made by the administration.

Ramaswamy has not publicly committed to divesting from his data-center-related holdings.

The issue is likely to remain prominent through the Nov. 3 election as Ohio faces a historic wave of proposed data-center construction and an escalating fight over who pays for the electricity, transmission infrastructure, tax incentives and other costs that come with it.