Vivek Ramaswamy leads Amy Acton by three points in tight Ohio governor race

Vivek Ramaswamy holds a three-point polling lead over Amy Acton in the Ohio governor's race. Conflicting surveys and prediction markets signal a closely fought November 3 election.Washington,Oct 20, 2026 10:28 ISTRepublican Vivek Ramaswamy is locked in a close contest with Democrat Amy Acton in the race for Ohio governor, with the latest opinion poll giving the Indian-American entrepreneur a three-point lead, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Ramaswamy, 41, entered the race as a clear favourite after receiving US President Donald Trump's endorsement last year, but now faces a strong challenge from Acton, a former state health chief. The election will be held on November 3.If elected, Ramaswamy will become the third person of Indian descent to serve as a US state governor, after Bobby Jindal in Louisiana and Nikki Haley in South Carolina.Ramaswamy has faced difficulties during the campaign. In July, an attempt to reach out to college students in Ohio ended with him being forced off the stage by a right-wing crowd over his "winners versus whiners" speech. "Are you in the camp of people in this country who want to win? Or are you in the camp of people who want to whine?" he asked the young crowd. The audience responded with boos and heckling, prompting him to "peace out".A CNN-SSRS poll conducted between September 29 and October 5 gave Acton an eight-point lead over Ramaswamy. Ohio was last won by a Democratic candidate for governor in 2006, when Ted Strickland was elected. However, an ActiVote survey conducted between September 27 and October 19 placed Ramaswamy three points ahead of Acton, according to PTI.Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket on Monday showed a 70 per cent chance of Acton winning the race, compared with 31 per cent for Ramaswamy.Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati on August 9, 1985. His parents moved to the US from Palakkad in Kerala.Raised in Ohio, he was an accomplished pianist and a nationally ranked tennis player. He was already a millionaire when he graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.Ramaswamy launched a presidential campaign in 2023 but withdrew after a poor performance in the Iowa primaries and endorsed Trump.After Trump's 2024 election victory, he appointed Elon Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. Ramaswamy left the initiative soon afterwards to contest the Ohio governor's election with Trump's support.The race remains difficult for Ramaswamy, with Trump and Vice-President JD Vance making several visits to Ohio in an effort to keep the state under Republican control. Vance is scheduled to campaign in Cincinnati on Wednesday, his second election rally in the state within a fortnight.Trump won Ohio in each of the three presidential elections he contested, in 2016, 2020 and 2024. The state has never elected a woman as governor and voted against Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.Ramaswamy holds a narrow lead in the latest survey, but other polling and prediction markets indicate a close contest with Acton ahead of the November 3 election.With PTI Inputs- Ends