Based on Acton’s telling of her story, coupled with public records, she deserves a private life, free of stress or drama
Somewhere along the way, presumably after conversations with close friends and advisors, Dr. Amy Acton decided to run for governor of Ohio.
With friends like those, who needs enemies?
By the most generous and empathetic version of her life — including her own telling — Acton has good reason to be hypersensitive and at least a little fragile. Let’s be honest about why she resigned as state of Ohio health director back in June of 2020 at the height of the covid pandemic.
Acton was fine when, during the first few weeks of the pandemic, she and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine were the toast of Ohio and much of the nation, with memes racing across the internet highlighting how adorable some thought they were as they delivered their regular covid briefings.
But the minute the tide turned and Ohioans began to rebel against the overblown restrictions being imposed, Acton withered and soon bailed.
As ABC News reported at the time, “Protesters demonstrated in front of her home on several occasions in May, and Republican lawmakers have been working on legislation to limit the health director's authority. In ruling that the state's order closing gyms during the pandemic violated the Ohio Constitution, an Ohio judge wrote that Acton acted in an ‘impermissibly arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive manner.’”
Fast forward a few years as state Democrats bemoan the fact that it’s been two decades since the last Democrat, Ted Strickland, won a governor’s race. Strickland narrowly lost his re-election bid in 2010, and Democratic nominees every four years since then —Ed Fitzgerald (33% in 2014) , Richard Cordray (46.7% in 2018) and Nan Whaley (37.4% in 2022) — have been disappointments, especially Cordray because Democrats believed he would win.
In 2025, preparing for the 2026 race, Democrats were desperate to field a winning candidate for governor. Amy Acton at least had the name I.D. to make a splash. Democrats likely saw Vivek Ramaswamy — with his Indian heritage and Hindu religion — as a vulnerable candidate, not the usual Christian white male GOP standard bearer. Maybe a liberal white Jewish female would actually stand a chance, they apparently decided.
It’s true that Ramaswamy’s heritage and religion do him no favors with the GOP’s fundamentalist Christian base. But he soldiers on, and it’s to his credit that Ramaswamy has not played the race card, as Democrats do when under attack.
When the backlash over his “mom ad” came, Ramaswamy, if he behaved like a Democrat, could have responded that he was only being attacked because his skin is darker and because “I might pray differently than anybody who’s ever held this office,” as Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has said when under attack from Republicans.
STRUGGLING TO COPE
Amy Acton tells a heart-wrenching story of child abuse and near-homelessness growing up. (Her mother’s version differs.) People can certainly recover from that and mature into strong, capable and even inspiring leaders. But Acton’s adult life doesn’t offer assurances in that regard.
In 1994, according to PolitiFact (not just Republicans), the medical license application Acton filled out asked whether she had ever been treated for “emotional or mental illness, drug addiction or abuse, or an alcohol problem.” Acton answered “yes,” but has said she was only referring to outpatient counseling for the sexual abuse that happened when she was a child.
In 2013, a disturbance happened to the degree that one of Acton’s daughters contacted police and told them she was worried her parents would get into a fight.
In 2019, another daughter called 911 to report that “my step dad and mom are fighting and mom has been drinking and throwing things and breaking glass.” According to PolitiFact, “The report says Acton became upset, pulled a mirror from the wall, shattering the glass. Acton told the responding officers she had been drinking and had taken an unknown amount of prescription medication.” This happened when she was serving as state health director. She did not tell DeWine about the incident.
In interviews with the Washington Examiner regarding Acton’s handling of the 2020 pandemic while health director, “five current and former state government workers … described Acton’s conduct in the workplace as erratic and said she was prone to emotional episodes, to the point that she was once allegedly found ‘curled up’ into a ball on the floor before one of the emergency response meetings and seen crying in the bathroom in another incident described by someone who worked with her.”
The same story reported that when conference calls were held to discuss the pandemic response, “One former senior staffer … recalled on multiple occasions DeWine asking, ‘Amy, what do you think? Does anybody know where Amy is?’ ‘And then somebody would say that they’re texting her or they’re calling her,’ the former staffer said. ‘So then staff would be scrambling to try to find where Dr. Acton was, and some other person from the Department of Health would have to fill in.’”
In June of 2020, Acton resigned as state health director in the wake of citizen protests, pushback against the covid restrictions enacted by her and DeWine and, likely, mounting job pressures overall.
After leaving government service, Acton became involved first with one non-profit, Kind Columbus, and then another, RAPID 5, but neither position lasted long. As WOSU reported in May 2023 about her RAPID 5 departure, “Dr. Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, is out as the head of a central Ohio environmental tourism organization.” Board member Michael Bongiorno said, “Dr. Acton remains committed to the vision of this board, but she just won't be doing so as the president and CEO.”
On Sept. 6 of this year, a man stumbled over a couple of spectators at an Acton campaign event inside a tent at a local fair, leading to exaggerated claims that he had “lunged” at her. In fact, video evidence and other witnesses described a clumsy individual who was legally carrying weapons but not brandishing anything but a phone, pushing past people but getting nowhere near Acton. Nevertheless, her campaign issued a statement as though it was much more serious, saying, “This kind of violence has no place in Ohio.”
As a candidate for governor, Acton has refused to participate in debates, barred media from many of her events, and sometimes banned audio or video recording by attendees, even supporters.
Amy Acton’s adult life features repeated examples of someone struggling to cope and, arguably, overreacting when confronted with stress, whether family disturbances, job pressures, controversy or criticism. This is understandable considering the childhood trauma she has often described.
THE PAST IS PRELUDE
Taking into consideration her own telling of her life story, and the public record of both her personal life and her job performances, Ohioans are faced with two choices:
Cast a vote for Acton as a sort of consolation prize for her traumatic personal and professional experiences, or perhaps as punishment for Ramaswamy for the infamous “mom ad,” or;
Do Acton a favor by not voting for her, allowing her to deal with her challenges as a private citizen outside the harsh glare of the public spotlight and the pressures of the governor’s office.
Here’s one thing that’s almost certain: The issues that have surfaced time and again in Acton’s life will not magically disappear once she becomes governor. Quite the opposite.
Encouraged by party officials and friends, Amy Acton decided to run for governor, voluntarily choosing to open her life to the scrutiny that comes with it. She has been fortunate to have the protection of most Ohio media, sparing her the kind of constant attacks and snarky commentary that come her opponent’s way.
But nearly everyone who has boosted her candidacy will, shortly into her tenure as governor, likely regret taking advantage of someone who clearly was not equipped for the pressures of the job or the heat of the spotlight — which, as her term as governor progressed, would get hotter even from the far-left press.
As a conservative, I readily admit that I would much prefer Vivek Ramaswamy to be governor of Ohio, rather than a liberal Democrat. But even Democrats must admit that the more Acton’s history is revealed and examined, including her reaction to stress and pressure, the clearer it becomes that serving as governor would not be a positive development for her or the people of Ohio. Whatever pressures she felt as director of the Ohio Department of Health will be magnified tenfold as governor.
No one who cares about Amy Acton should put her in a position of constant public scrutiny and daily high-pressure decision-making — not because she’s a woman, not because she’s a liberal Democrat, but because past is, so often, prelude. We can see from the record that Acton has continued to struggle years removed from the traumatic childhood she describes.
Whatever one thinks of Ramaswamy, he clearly has the confidence to engage with everyone, defend his positions and intelligently discuss a wide array of issues beyond mere talking points.
Amy Acton seems like a nice person. She has had a difficult life. Her public life in recent years and to this day show someone retreating from pressure, lacking confidence in public appearances, exhibiting nervousness about interviews, and reflecting uncertainty about how to lead.
The governor’s office is not a consolation prize, nor a facility for therapeutic self-help regimens. Ohioans deserve better. While Democrats might be happy to use her to achieve their electoral goals, at the end of the day Amy Acton deserves a happy, private, stress-free life.
Gary Abernathy is an award-winning journalist and columnist with a long career in news media and politics, including as a contributing columnist for the Washington Post and a frequent analyst on PBS NewsHour. He is the author of “MAGA Republican Are Already Normal — And Other Shocking Notions.”
https://abernathyroad.substack.com/p/the-best-way-to-show-compassion-for
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