Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is publicly contradicting a central claim in a gubernatorial campaign ad from the Republican he endorsed in January, telling NBC4 that he — not former Health Director Amy Acton — made the decision to close Ohio’s polls ahead of the March 2020 primary election.

The ad, sponsored by Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his running mate, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, tells voters that “Amy Acton called off Ohio’s election at the last minute, defying a judge’s orders and abusing her power.” Acton is the only Democrat running for governor and faces Ramaswamy, the heavy favorite in the May 5 Republican primary, in the general election.

“In government this happens all the time. Do you think a member of the president’s cabinet would issue this kind of order without his approval?” DeWine told NBC4’s Colleen Marshall. “I told her to issue the health order. The decision was mine.”

DeWine, who endorsed Ramaswamy in January, said he made the call to protect older voters and those with underlying health conditions from disenfranchisement, and to shield poll workers who typically spend 13 hours at precincts on Election Day.

“I ultimately thought if I did not make that decision people were going to die,” DeWine said.

What the record shows about the 2020 poll closure

The scheduled primary was March 17, 2020 — three days after DeWine said he directed Acton to close Ohio’s schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the hours before the primary, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose filed for a temporary restraining order seeking to postpone the election. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye declined to issue that order.

Frye wrote that he was reluctant to override an election date set by the legislature and concerned about setting a precedent. “There are too many factors to balance in this uncharted territory to say that we ought to take it away from the legislature and elected statewide officials, and throw it to a common pleas court judge in Columbus with 12 hours to go to the election,” Frye wrote.

Acton then signed a health directive closing the polling places under the emergency powers granted to the health director. DeWine said the decision followed a phone call among state leaders that included himself, then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, LaRose, Acton, and the state chairs of both major parties at the time — Jane Timken for the Ohio Republican Party and David Pepper for the Ohio Democratic Party. Pepper is now Acton’s lieutenant governor running mate. According to DeWine, all participants on that call agreed that closing the polls was the right call because of COVID-19 concerns.

Voting was ultimately extended largely by mail, with the primary stretching into April 2020.

McColley stands behind the ad

McColley, who drove a legislative push in 2020 to limit the Ohio health director’s emergency powers after the lockdown orders, defended the ad’s framing even as DeWine disputed it.

“I stand behind it,” McColley said of the ad. “She violated her constitutional and statutory authority.” McColley told NBC4 he believes DeWine would not have issued the directive without Acton’s signature and input.

Not the first time DeWine has pushed back

It is not the first time DeWine has contradicted fellow Republicans who have pinned COVID-19 decisions on Acton. DeWine and Husted — now a U.S. senator — have each told NBC4 in recent months that DeWine had final say on the state’s pandemic response and that the decisions were his to make.

Ramaswamy holds endorsements from President Donald Trump and the Ohio Republican Party heading into the May 5 primary. Acton is unopposed in the Democratic primary.