With less than a month remaining before official candidate paperwork is due, the leading contenders in Ohio’s race for governor have unveiled their choices for lieutenant governor, setting up a high-profile day of campaign events across the state.
Republican candidate and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is set to introduce Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) as his running mate during an event on Wednesday evening in Cleveland. Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed the announcement Tuesday night.
McColley, a former member of the Ohio House, is term-limited in the Senate and had been widely viewed as a potential congressional candidate in the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District. That district, currently represented by longtime U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), is expected to lean more Republican under maps unanimously approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. McColley’s selection removes him from what was shaping up to be a crowded primary field.
On the Democratic side, former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will appear Wednesday afternoon at a Columbus-area event with her newly announced running mate, former Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper. Acton’s campaign confirmed the pairing on Wednesday morning.
Pepper previously ran unsuccessfully for state auditor in 2010 and attorney general in 2014. He served as chair of the Ohio Democratic Party from 2015 to 2020, stepping down following significant Democratic losses that year. In recent years, Pepper has gained a following through social media commentary and political writing, including a Substack newsletter where he has frequently criticized Republicans and written about Acton’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of his recent commentary has also targeted Ramaswamy.
The dueling announcements come amid limited public polling in the governor’s race. An Emerson College poll released in August showed Ramaswamy with a 10-point lead, while a follow-up Emerson poll in early December found Acton narrowly ahead by one point — a difference within the margin of error, suggesting a highly competitive race.
Both tickets are expected to intensify campaigning as Ohio voters begin to focus on what is shaping up to be one of the state’s most closely watched gubernatorial contests in years.
