Brown, Acton Make Closing Arguments in Ohio

CLEVELAND — Democrats Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton appeared together in Cleveland on Sunday in one of their final rallies before Tuesday’s midterm elections. Brown is seeking to unseat Jon Husted for a return to the U.S. Senate, while Acton is running to be Ohio’s next governor. And as the races come down to the wire, both candidates have edged ahead of their GOP opponents, according to the New York Times/Siena University poll released Sunday night. 

“Every one of us is longing for something,” Acton said. “We are longing for public servants again. Who are actually public servants, who solve problems instead of making problems. That's not too much to ask for. See, Ohioans, we got hope, but we got a plan coming in the door on day one to make life better.”

Acton, Ohio’s former health secretary under GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, is running against billionaire tech executive Vivek Ramaswamy, who she criticized for campaigning across the state in his private plane. 

“My opponent, he just doesn't get it,” Acton said. “Mr. Ramaswamy, he's not just out of touch, he’s just out for himself. He is a danger to my state, and apparently there is no low he won't stoop to. But I am a scrappy kid from Youngstown, and I'm not afraid of a fight.”

Ramaswamy has also been roundly criticized by members of both parties for running an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother Donna Arthur. A jury indicted her husband Cledith Arthur, Acton’s stepfather, on charges he raped Acton in 1978 when she was 12. Cledith and Donna Arthur fled Ohio together before he went to trial. 

The ad appears to have backfired for the GOP, and moved some Ohio voters who had planned to cast their ballots for Ramaswamy to shift their support to Acton, an Oct. 28 Suffolk University poll found. 

Acton said Sunday she and her brother had a rough childhood with a lot of abuse and neglect. “And I know I'm not the only kid in this room who saw a thing or two. Half our kids are living in poverty, not far from where we are,” she said. “My opponent has chosen to intentionally exploit this in a desperate attempt to save his struggling campaign, but it's not going to work. It is not going to work because compassion and decency still matter.”

Brown hit several familiar themes from his stump speech, reiterating the divide between CEO pay and worker pay, and the “shameful” practices of politicians trading stocks and becoming lobbyists after they leave office. He pointed to Husted’s connection to the First Energy bribery scandal.

“Ohioans don't have anyone fighting for you until Tuesday,” Brown said. “So talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends. Tell them Ohio doesn't have to accept this kind of corruption in Columbus or in Washington. Tell them, tell them we're going to fight to end this war. Tell them we're going to fight to end the tariffs. Tell them we're going to clean up the corruption in our government.”

Brown, who lost his Senate seat in 2024 to Bernie Moreno, has put unpopular AI data centers front and center in his campaign ads, calling Husted the “face of data centers” in the Buckeye State. Ohio is among the states with the most current and planned data centers in the country. The electricity and water-guzzling facilities have become one of the surprise issues of the midterms, as voters seek more input and control over the impact data centers have on their communities. 

Husted, Brown said Sunday, is backed by the data center companies, big tech billionaires and dark money from out of state. “Think Peter Thiel. Think Elon Musk. Think Donald Trump,” Brown said to boos from the audience. Musk and his America PAC have spent nearly half a billion dollars on midterm races, including more than $10 million to defeat Brown. “They know that Jon Husted will do their bidding,” Brown added. “The billionaires, the trillionaires, the corporations, all know John Husted is for sale.”

Brown and Acton will close out their campaigns with a joint rally in Columbus on Monday.