DeWine refuses to campaign with Ramaswamy, won't include him among GOP's ‘really good people’

Gov. Mike DeWine is refusing to campaign with Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican he endorsed to succeed him, and declined to include Ramaswamy among the “really good people” on the GOP ticket when a reporter pressed him to clarify his praise.

The rebuke came Friday, one day after DeWine publicly condemned a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton through her estranged mother, despite the family’s documented history of childhood sexual abuse.

DeWine has demanded that Ramaswamy withdraw the advertisement, defended Acton’s honesty against its accusations and now ruled out campaigning alongside his own party’s nominee for governor. Yet he refuses to withdraw his endorsement, citing his earlier commitment to support the Republican ticket.

“We have some really good people on that ticket,” DeWine told WEWS reporter Morgan Trau, according to the station’s October 23 report.

Asked whether Ramaswamy was one of them, the governor paused before explaining whom he meant.

“Well, I was really talking about people I’ve worked with … for years and years. I’ve served with them in public office in Ohio.”

Ramaswamy, a businessman and former presidential candidate, has never held elected office.

DeWine’s answer left little ambiguity about whom he was praising. Given an opportunity to include his endorsed successor among the Republicans he considers “really good people,” the governor instead described longtime public officials with whom he had served — a group that does not include Ramaswamy.

With the November 3 election approaching, Ohio’s sitting Republican governor is keeping his endorsement of Ramaswamy while refusing to stand beside him on the campaign trail.

DeWine defends Acton’s honesty, contradicting Ramaswamy’s attack

The governor’s refusal to campaign with Ramaswamy follows an even more direct disagreement over the Republican nominee’s treatment of Acton, who served as DeWine’s health director during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramaswamy’s advertisement features Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged biological mother, accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood. The attack centers on a family history involving abuse, neglect and criminal charges against Acton’s stepfather.

Court records obtained by WEWS show that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing her when she was a child. He fled before trial and later died. Acton’s mother lost custody of Acton and her brother, and Acton has said she has had no contact with her mother since she was 12.

Ramaswamy nevertheless put Arthur in a campaign advertisement attacking Acton’s credibility. He subsequently acknowledged that the advertisement came from his campaign and announced plans to spend $4 million promoting it on television and digital platforms.

DeWine called reporters to the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday to condemn the advertisement and demand its removal.

“It’s deeply, deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine said. “It needs to come down; it’s just wrong to continue to run it.”

DeWine did more than object to the campaign’s decision to involve Acton’s estranged mother. He directly defended Acton’s truthfulness, rejecting the accusation at the center of Ramaswamy’s advertisement based on his own experience working with her.

“In regard to telling the truth, my experience with her and working closely with her every single day was that she certainly told the truth; that’s my experience,” DeWine said.

DeWine’s assessment directly contradicts the advertisement’s portrayal of Acton as a liar. The governor worked closely with her during one of the most consequential periods of his administration, while Ramaswamy’s campaign has relied on accusations from a mother who lost custody of Acton decades ago.

Ramaswamy has defended the advertisement rather than withdrawing it. His campaign has maintained that Arthur’s accusations concern Acton’s credibility, not the sexual abuse she experienced as a child.

DeWine has rejected that separation, arguing that the family’s documented history makes the advertisement especially wrong.

DeWine keeps his endorsement but refuses to campaign

Despite condemning the advertisement and refusing to campaign with Ramaswamy, DeWine has insisted that his endorsement will remain in place.

“I’m not changing the endorsement. I endorse the whole ticket,” DeWine told reporters Thursday.

He explained that he had committed to supporting Ohio’s Republican candidates, many of whom are longtime colleagues. But his comments Friday drew a distinction between those Republicans and the gubernatorial nominee whose advertisement he had just condemned.

The governor’s position leaves Ramaswamy with an endorsement from Ohio’s highest-ranking Republican state official but without his willingness to campaign alongside him.

DeWine has also previously praised Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate and a Republican from Napoleon in northwest Ohio. McColley has worked with the governor as a legislative leader, unlike Ramaswamy, who entered the gubernatorial race without prior elected-office experience.

The distinction matters for the Republican ticket. DeWine’s refusal to campaign with Ramaswamy does not extend, at least publicly, to McColley or other statewide Republican candidates. The governor has not announced whether he intends to make separate appearances with them before Election Day.

Nor has DeWine publicly identified any previously scheduled appearances with Ramaswamy that were canceled. What he has established is that he will not campaign with the Republican seeking to replace him.

Trump and Vance defend the ad as Ohio Republicans split

The dispute has divided prominent Republicans in the final weeks of the governor’s race, with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defending Ramaswamy while DeWine and other Republican figures have criticized the advertisement.

Trump defended the attack and encouraged Ramaswamy to continue airing it. Vance, appearing in Ohio on Wednesday, criticized Republicans objecting to the advertisement and praised Ramaswamy for confronting Acton.

Other Republicans have publicly rejected the campaign’s tactics. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, DeWine’s former lieutenant governor, said he would not have run the advertisement. Secretary of State Frank LaRose made a similar statement, while former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci urged Ramaswamy to move away from the controversy.

Those criticisms have not amounted to a coordinated withdrawal of Republican support for Ramaswamy. DeWine’s position, however, goes further than disapproving of an advertisement: He has now ruled out campaigning with the nominee himself.

That refusal comes as the Republican ticket seeks to hold the governor’s office following DeWine’s two terms. Ramaswamy and McColley face Acton and her running mate, David Pepper, in the November 3 election.

DeWine has made clear that he will not withdraw his endorsement. He has also made clear that he will not campaign with Ramaswamy, and when asked whether the nominee belonged among the “really good people” he praised on the Republican ticket, he declined to include him.

With Election Day approaching, Ramaswamy retains the governor’s endorsement — but not his willingness to share a campaign stage.