Ohio's largest newspaper has torn up its own rulebook one week before Election Day. The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com endorsed Democrat Amy Acton for governor in an editorial published Sunday, October 25, 2026, reversing a policy announced just months ago of staying out of races for governor, the U.S. Senate and president. The board said it could not stay silent after Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign released an advertisement featuring Acton's estranged mother, an ad the paper said weaponised the childhood sexual abuse Acton suffered. With early voting already under way and more than 676,000 Ohioans having cast ballots, the endorsement has turned a newspaper policy decision into one of the defining controversies of the Ohio governor race.
The editorial board of The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com published its endorsement on Sunday, in a piece headlined "We cannot remain silent: Amy Acton for governor." The paper had announced months earlier that it would focus on down-ballot contests and stay out of the races for governor, U.S. Senate and president, after readers told it they did not need its guidance in those races. On Sunday it reversed that position in full. "Today, we endorse Democrat Amy Acton for governor. This reverses a policy we announced just months ago," the editorial said.
The board's reasoning centred on the Ramaswamy campaign advertisement. The one-minute video features Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who calls her daughter "a liar" and says she has a "serious problem." It disputes Acton's account of living in a tent as a child. Ramaswamy confirmed on October 20 that his campaign made the video, and his campaign said it would spend $4 million promoting it on television and digital platforms, keeping it running through Election Day. The paper did not mince words about it. "A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party," the board wrote. "Ramaswamy's decision to release this vile advertisement reveals a failure of judgment that Ohio cannot afford in its governor."
The board was careful to say the endorsement rested on more than the advertisement. It praised Acton's record, including her service as Ohio's health director under Governor Mike DeWine during the Covid-19 pandemic, her meetings with communities across the state, and her participation in the paper's 15-part series answering readers' questions, a series in which Acton and Libertarian candidate Don Kissick took part but Ramaswamy did not. "Acton is prepared," the board wrote. It also faulted Ramaswamy for moving his business from Ohio to Texas, and for what it described as a focus on wealthy donors while refusing to explain what he would do about many of the issues he would face as governor. "Donald Trump's endorsement cannot substitute for accountability, preparation or judgment," the editorial said. It closed by urging readers to "Stand with decency on Nov. 3."
The advertisement at the centre of the row touches on the most painful part of Acton's life story, which she has spoken about publicly. As a child, Acton was sexually abused by her stepfather, according to the reporting on the controversy. Her mother, Donna Arthur, stood by her stepfather, and the family fled the state before his case came to trial. The Ramaswamy advertisement does not explicitly mention the late stepfather, but its message, delivered by Acton's own estranged mother, drew immediate backlash from both parties. That backlash is what makes this endorsement different from a routine newspaper pick: the paper is not merely choosing a candidate, it is condemning a campaign tactic that even senior Republicans have criticised.
Acton, a Democrat, served as Ohio's health director under DeWine, a Republican, during the pandemic, a role that made her a familiar figure in the state long before this campaign. Ramaswamy, 41, is a biotech entrepreneur and the son of Indian immigrants who ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before endorsing Trump. If elected, he would be Ohio's first Indian-American governor. He carries Trump's endorsement in the race, and both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have stood by the advertisement. On Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office, let alone the Office of Governor."
The race itself has been tightening in Acton's favour for weeks. A Marist survey of 1,176 registered Ohio voters, conducted October 15-18, put Acton ahead of Ramaswamy 51% to 43% among registered voters and 50% to 43% among likely voters, with Acton leading among independents 54% to 36% among registered voters. A Bowling Green State University poll conducted September 29 to October 9 put Acton at 50% and Ramaswamy at 44% among likely voters, doubling her lead from the previous month. CNN polling from late September and early October gave Acton an eight-point lead among likely voters. Yet the same Marist survey found that 51% of respondents expected Ramaswamy to win, against 45% who expected Acton to prevail, a reminder that Ohio has voted Republican in recent statewide races and that expectations often lag behind polling.
Newspaper endorsements rarely decide elections on their own, and The Plain Dealer's editors know it. What makes this one matter is the combination of timing, rarity and the reason given. The paper is Ohio's largest newspaper, based in Cleveland, and it broke a policy it had set only months ago, in the final week of a campaign in which hundreds of thousands of votes have already been cast. The Cook Political Report shifted the race from "Toss Up" to "Lean Democrat" on October 23, saying Acton had already been gaining ground and that the reaction to the video added to the case for its new assessment. Betting markets have moved further still: Kalshi traders priced Acton at about 81% to win, with Ramaswamy at 19%, while Polymarket put her at about 79%.
Caution is still warranted about cause and effect. The Marist poll was conducted October 15-18, before the video appeared online on October 19, and a VoteHub/Verasight survey conducted October 1-20, which showed Acton at 46% and Ramaswamy at 45%, said most of its interviews took place before the video appeared, so it could not isolate the advertisement's effect. The endorsement is therefore best read not as proof that the ad changed the race, but as a sign of how the race's closing argument is being framed: Acton as the prepared, decent choice, Ramaswamy as a candidate whose judgment is now the central question. In a state Trump won by 11 points in 2024, that framing, if it holds, is what would make an Acton victory a genuine upset story rather than a routine Democratic win.
Acton responded on Sunday on X, writing that she is "honored" to have the paper's endorsement. Her campaign had already answered the advertisement itself on October 20 with a response video featuring her brother, Phil Stearns. Ramaswamy's campaign pushed back on the endorsement by attacking the paper's leadership. "Anyone who thought Chris Quinn's paper wouldn't back the liberal in this race is fooling themselves," press secretary Evan Machan wrote in a statement, referring to Chris Quinn, who helps lead newsroom strategy for both The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com. Machan did not elaborate.
Ramaswamy himself has defended the advertisement. Appearing on Fox News, he said: "you never start a fight, but if you find yourself in one, you finish it." He accused Acton of being "crazy, unstable, and dishonest" and of avoiding a debate. The most striking reactions, however, have come from within his own party. Governor DeWine, who has endorsed Ramaswamy, called the advertisement "deeply, deeply troubling" and urged the campaign to take it down, while saying he would keep his endorsement. Senator Jon Husted said he would not have run the advertisement. The board's own words remain the sharpest summary of its position: "We made our endorsement policy to serve our readers. We cannot let it become a reason to remain silent when we believe Ohio faces a choice this consequential."
The Ohio governor's race matters nationally because it is a test of whether Democrats can win statewide in a state that has trended Republican, and whether a campaign built around personal attacks can survive its own backlash. Acton leads in the polls, but Ohio voters still expect Ramaswamy to win, and the gap between polling and expectations is where campaigns are won or lost in the final week. If Acton wins, Democrats will point to the endorsement and the advertisement as the moment the race turned. If Ramaswamy wins, Republicans will argue that newspaper endorsements no longer move voters, and that Trump's endorsement mattered more.
It matters for a second reason that goes beyond one state. The advertisement's use of a candidate's estranged mother to attack her account of childhood abuse has forced a debate about what is out of bounds in American campaigns, and that debate has crossed party lines in a way few issues do in 2026. DeWine's criticism, Husted's distance and the newspaper's reversal all point in the same direction: even in a hard-fought campaign, some tactics carry a cost. Whether voters impose that cost on November 3 is the question the endorsement poses, and the answer will be read far beyond Ohio.
Early voting continues through October 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Ramaswamy's campaign has said the advertisement will keep running on television and social media through Election Day, so voters will keep seeing the very spot that prompted the endorsement. Acton's campaign will keep pressing its closing message of preparation and decency, while Ramaswamy will lean on Trump's endorsement and his argument that Acton has avoided debate. New polls in the final days will show whether Acton's lead holds, grows or narrows, and whether the expectations gap, in which most voters still expect a Ramaswamy win, begins to close. The Plain Dealer has had its say. On November 3, Ohio voters will have theirs.
Ohio's largest newspaper endorsed Democrat Amy Acton for governor in an editorial published Sunday, October 25, 2026, reversing a policy announced months earlier of not endorsing in races for governor, U.S. Senate and president.
The board condemned a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement featuring Acton's estranged mother, writing that using childhood sexual abuse as a weapon "has crossed a line." It also said the endorsement rested on more than the ad, citing Acton's preparation, her record as health director and her participation in its reader-question series.
The one-minute video features Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter "a liar" and disputing her account of living in a tent as a child. Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign made it, and his campaign said it would spend $4 million promoting it through Election Day.
Marist put Acton ahead 50% to 43% among likely voters in mid-October, and Bowling Green State University put her ahead 50% to 44%. Yet 51% of Marist respondents expected Ramaswamy to win, showing a gap between vote intention and expectations.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Early voting runs through October 30, and more than 676,000 Ohioans had already cast ballots when the endorsement was published.
Related coverage on US News Pulse: Maine Senate race deadlocked one week before the midterms, NPR/Marist poll: Democrats lead by 8 points and Dark money floods the 2026 midterms.
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