Dr. Amy Acton (left), the 2026 Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, and Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (right), who was officially endorsed as governor by the Ohio Republican Party. (Photos/graphics: WEWS.)
Newly released campaign finance reports show that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton raised $5.2 million in the first quarter of this year and has earned $10 million since joining the governor’s race.
That’s a historic total for a doctor who led the Ohio Department of Health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her campaign noted that no other Democratic candidate has raised as much money at this point in the calendar.
The announcement, correcting the previous quarterly fundraising total of $4.8 million, came after Republican Vivek Ramaswamy announced he had raised about $5 million from donors.
But despite this, money is probably a race Acton can’t win.
Although both candidates’ fundraising is the same in terms of donors, Ramaswamy is a billionaire. Acton not. In addition to raising $5 million in the first quarter, Ramaswamy cut a $25 million check to his campaign. That’s different than the Super PAC supporting Ramaswamy, which has raised another $29.5 million so far.
In a press release, Ramaswamy’s campaign described the candidate’s eight-figure cash injection as: deliver on a campaign promise spend at least $30 million of your own money on the race.
Meanwhile, Acton’s campaign manager, Phil Stein, said Ramaswamy was “panicking.”
“He can continue to throw money at his campaign from the comfort of his private jet, but Ohioans will see through his false promises,” he said.
Ramaswamy’s $25 million is in the form of a loan, meaning he can repay the money raised by his campaign.
Acton’s first question
In the first quarter, Acton collected over 195,000 total donations, 43% of which came from individual donors. Stein said in a press release that the numbers “prove that Ohioans are ready for change.”
“Ohioans are tired of making ends meet,” Stein said. “They want a governor who understands what they’re going through instead of saying affordability is a buzzword, and they know Amy is the only candidate in this race who will lower costs and build a state where we can all thrive.”
Some of Acton’s largest individual contributions came from union PACs, including United Healthcare Workers East and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Columbus. Acton also received donations from top executives at Amazon, Kroger and Alpha Generation, an independent energy producer.
Its biggest spend was about $1.4 million on digital advertising, and almost all of it went to Liftoff Campaigns LLC. According to POLICYa group founded in 2023 to aid Democratic candidates tailor their campaign messages and fundraising. Acton also spent about $50 on digital ads on X.
The Acton campaign took every opportunity to criticize Ramaswamy for private flights. In the first quarter, Acton spent nearly $20,000 on commercial airline tickets.
That’s about half of what Ramaswamy spends each month on leasing his jet.
Q1 Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy’s biggest donors include leaders in finance, energy and real estate. He got five grand from an executive at independent bottling company Pepsi, another ten from the CEO of Sbarro, and the NetJets leader overpaid the maximum for Ramaswamy, giving the campaign $16,615.67.
The second-largest portion of the funds came in the form of a $290,000 transfer from Rob McColley’s campaign fund. In January, Ramaswamy chose the Senate President as his running mate. The greatest contribution was, of course, made by Ramaswamy himself.
In a press release, Ramaswamy campaign manager John Ewing boasted that he was “resetting all the fundraising criteria” and had received support from 120,000 unique donors, 98% of whom gave less than $200.
“No gubernatorial campaign in Ohio history has produced numbers like this,” he said, “and this sends a clear message: Ohioans are excited about Vivek, our campaign is growing, and we will have a big victory in November.”
Even more noteworthy is Ramaswamy’s campaign spending. In the first quarter, Ramaswamy spent $12.5 million, about two and a half times what he earned.
The largest part of the spend was $10 million worth of ad purchases in a campaign announced early last month. Ewing then stated that the advertising onslaught would continue until November.
Nearly $7 million of that amount went to The Strategy Group, the Ohio firm that became this company embroiled in a $220 million advertising scandal that contributed to the ouster of Department of the Interior Secretary Kristi Noem. ON social mediaThe Strategy Group stated that it received only about a quarter of a million dollars to produce the ads.
In the first quarter of 2026, Ramaswamy spent nearly $120,000 leasing a private jet. This means his total spending on private aircraft has exceeded half a million dollars since the start of the campaign. It is worth noting that the aircraft is leased through V Leasing LLC, which Ramaswamy himself owns.
Ramaswamy’s campaign also racked up more than $162,000 in credit card bills this quarter, including more than $96,000 in the last tax period alone.
The Ohio Capital Journal asked Ramaswamy’s campaign whether V Leasing was getting a refund on the private plane deal and whether it could provide a detailed breakdown of its credit card expenses. The campaign did not respond.
V-PAC
In addition to his own wealth, Ramaswamy can benefit from the generosity of others. The Super PAC supporting his gubernatorial bid V-PAC: Winners, Not Victims has raised $29.5 million since the beginning of 2025. At the end of March, it had $23 million in cash.
Super PACs can run ads supporting or opposing specific candidates, but cannot coordinate with a candidate’s campaign or make direct contributions. Groups must also report their donors, but there are no limits on what donors can contribute.
A single donor, Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, has given $20 million to V-PAC to date, including two $5 million contributions in the first quarter of 2026. Yass heads the investment firm Susquehanna International Group and is estimated to be worth more than $67 billion. Forbes.
In 2024, when Ohio voters were considering an amendment to establish an independent redistricting commission, Ramaswamy urged Ohioans to vote no. ON social mediahe complained that the effort was “funded by out-of-state leftist billionaires.”
The super-PAC also received a quarter of a million dollars from Scotts Company and $150,000 from the Sports Betting Alliance, a group that represents online sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel. A for-profit charter school operator called Pansofic Learning took in another $25,000.
Other than a $3 million ad purchase last March, the Super PAC’s spending has been relatively modest. The biggest spend in the first quarter was three $150,000 worth of digital ad purchases supporting Ramaswamy, spaced roughly every four weeks.
Follow Ohio Capital Journal reporter Nick Evans on X Or on Bluesky.
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