GOP governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy touted his plan to cut the state’s taxes – including a quick elimination of its taxes on capital gains – as he accepted an endorsement earlier this week from a major state business group that generally backs Republicans.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce PAC announced its endorsement in an event in Columbus on Tuesday. They cited Ramaswamy’s campaign priorities, which include cutting taxes, increasing energy production and streamlining permitting for building and infrastructure projects. Both Ramaswamy and his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, sought the chamber’s endorsement, according to the group, which involved both candidates sitting for hour-long screening interviews.
In his acceptance speech, Ramaswamy reiterated that he plans to roll back property taxes while also gradually eliminating the state income tax. Both taxes bring in tens of billions of dollars annually to state and local governments.
Ramaswamy said he isn’t going to eliminate the income tax all at once. Rather, he said that, if elected, he’ll lay out a plan to do so in less than 10 years.
But, he said he would move immediately to eliminate the state’s tax on capital gains – the taxes investors pay when they sell stocks or other assets. Ramaswamy said doing so would help attract businesses while putting a relatively small hole in the state’s budget. The nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission estimates it would cost around $650 million a year. Democrats have criticized the idea as disproportionately benefitting the wealthy.
The chamber’s endorsement comes five years after Ramaswamy burst onto the national political scene by criticizing the influence of big business in politics in his book, “Woke, Inc.” In it, Ramaswamy described what he saw as an increasing push by major corporations to promote liberal social values.
Ramaswamy has distinguished between that kind of advocacy and the kind of lobbying business groups generally do that pushes for lower taxes and fewer regulations. But the larger anti-business populism streak in the GOP still concerned the chamber enough that then-newly hired CEO Steve Stivers cited it in 2021 when he announced plans to beef up the group’s political fundraising and lobbying efforts.
In an interview, Stivers, a former Republican congressman, said the chamber didn’t hold either Ramaswamy’s or Acton’s pasts against them in their endorsement. During the event, Ramaswamy’s running mate, Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, was among those who criticized Acton for her role in the closure of Ohio businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Nobody’s perfect. Nobody agrees with the chamber 100%,” Stivers said. “Who is the better candidate for more jobs, higher-paying jobs, and a better quality of life? And the PAC board thought that was Vivek Ramaswamy for lots of different reasons.”
🗳️ Looking for clear, nonpartisan election info? See what to know about Ohio’s November 2026 election and how it could affect your community.
Ohio Democrats back off on transgender issues
Two top Ohio Democrats, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur and governor candidate Amy Acton, have drawn criticism recently from within their own party for their actions when it comes to transgender issues.
Acton described her opposition to “boys playing in girls’ sports” and described Ohio’s own transgender sports ban as settled law. Acton made her statement to the Toledo Blade after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld similar transgender sports bans across the country.
Kaptur, meanwhile, was one of eight U.S. House Democrats to vote for a Republican measure requiring schools to get parental permission before using different names or pronouns requested by students.
The moves come after some Democrats felt transgender issues hurt the party with Ohio voters in 2024 and as they gear up to potentially win statewide offices for the first time in years this November.
Two official Ohio Democratic Party affiliates, via their social media pages, were among those who criticized Acton and Kaptur for their stances. Republicans have noticed the turmoil and say they still plan to incorporate transgender issues into their attack ads this year. An activist who criticized Acton in an op-ed published by a state LGBTQ+ news outlet, meanwhile, said members of the transgender community feel abandoned.
Read the full story from Andrew here.
Musk and other big Ramaswamy donors
One of Ramaswamy’s former co-workers is among the latest billionaires to write big checks in support of the Republican entrepreneur’s bid to be Ohio’s next governor.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave $5 million to V PAC: Victims Not Victors, a federal political action committee formed to support Ramaswamy’s candidacy, V PAC reported to the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. Musk and Ramaswamy previously led the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial cost-cutting and transparency initiative.
Ratmir Timashev, a Russian-born software entrepreneur who graduated from Ohio State University, also donated $5 million to the PAC. Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, chipped in $1 million, as did Ross Stevens, a New York City investor.
Including newly reported numbers, which cover the PAC’s activity from April through June, V PAC now has raised nearly $42 million. That amount would be eye-popping for an Ohio governor campaign, much less an outside group supporting one. V PAC’s largest donor remains billionaire Jeff Yass, who previously has given the group $20 million.
Even after spending nearly $9 million on ads in the most recent quarter – most of which are attacking Acton – V PAC still has nearly $25.9 million in cash on hand.
Vivek’s credit card clean up
The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office recently faulted Ramaswamy’s campaign for failing to provide any supporting detail for more than $509,000 in expenses dating back to last year.
Updated filings from Ramaswamy’s campaign reveal what they actually spent the money on.
The largest amount was roughly $229,000 spent on printing and mailing. But the campaign also included tens of thousands spent on events, plus high-end lodging, limo services and other travel.
Some highlights of the campaign’s spending:
- $103,000 on events, including $55,000 with Junto, a luxury hotel development near downtown Columbus. Ramaswamy held a fundraiser with Cleveland Browns’ co-owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam there in April.
- Roughly $50,000 on vehicle rentals and car services, including about $25,000 with Go Rentals, a high-end rental car company that advertises providing transportation for private-jet owners among other “high touch” services for business and leisure travelers. The campaign also spent nearly $10,000 with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and paid $1,500 to the owner of a limo company near Columbus.
- $26,000 on lodging, a mix of high-end (the Sanctuary hotel in the Phoenix area, the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas, the Ritz Carlton in Los Angeles) and not so high-end (the Hilton Garden Inn in Phoenix, the Doubletree in Akron).
Ramaswamy’s campaign previously reported the spending as unitemized payments to American Express. Auditors in Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office flagged the lack of detail, leading to the revised reports, according to Dan Lusheck, a spokesperson for the office.
State auditors also flagged reports filed by Acton’s campaign. None of these issues required an updated campaign-finance report, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Rural Ohioans fume about Google data center coming to Lima
We’ve dedicated a lot of ink/pixel space in this newsletter to the tax, energy and water implications of the data center buildout that’s reshaping Ohio’s economy and politics.
But what does it look like up close? And what do the neighbors think?
Jake drove out to American Township, where Google is building a $500 million data center, to get a sense of it.
Neighbors there are furious about a lot of offshoots of the data center: farmland converted to a techno-industrial use; “dewatering” events at local wells; runaway construction dust; shell companies; non-disclosure agreements (NDAs); tax breaks, and even noise. And they’re angered by state and local governments holding the door open for a development that residents unequivocally oppose.
The story out of Lima isn’t all that different from those in scores of communities where data centers are trying to break ground despite widespread opposition surfacing in public polls, public comments and media accounts.
This one is unique for the local man and powerful politico who lives a few miles away: Matt Huffman, the current Ohio House Speaker, former Ohio Senate President, and former Lima councilman. He has led an effort – fruitless so far – to crack down on the tax breaks and permissive rules around data centers in Ohio. But he had little to say about the local news, only adding that he hopes the development follows the “spirit” of the stalled-out House Bill 646.
Following data centers: See all our coverage on data centers in one place — explained clearly and focused on how it affects you.
In the news
Four fracking wastewater injection wells were voluntarily shut down recently at the “request” of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The wells are believed to be leaking millions of gallons of brine at high pressure, deep underground. That brine is showing up in oil wells, making water officials worry what happens if it reaches an aquifer. Read more from Jake Zuckerman.
Some Ohio universities keep using Flock surveillance cameras as cities consider a pause. Cities in Ohio are debating how they use license plate reader cameras made by Flock Safety. Amy Morona reports they’re not the only ones using the devices. So do two of the state’s largest and most influential colleges: Ohio State University in Columbus and Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University. Read more.
More Ohioans are getting their power shut off as energy costs surge. Recent data reveals an uptick in households losing power because of unpaid utility bills — yet another sign of the ongoing national affordability crisis. Read more by Kathiann M. Kowalski from Canary Media.
Strained Ohio county seeks help to care for 16 siblings.The discovery of 16 siblings who authorities say were held at a rural Ohio home for years in squalid conditions is straining the county’s resources as it works to prosecute their parents and two grandparents and provide care to so many children at once. Read more by Julie Carr Smyth and Patrick Aftoora-Osragos of The Associated Press.
Lemons out of lemonade: Allies of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative are trying to use an FBI investigation of the group to mobilize progressive voters for the November election. Innovation Ohio has launched a digital ad campaign portraying the investigaiton, which appears to do with an OOC affiliate’s voter registration efforts in 2023 and 2024, as an attempt at voter suppression. Read more from Andrew here.
