Dr. Amy Acton, Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Ohio health commissioner, speaks with supporters at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 28, 2026.
John Cherry | Getty Images News | Getty Images
An armed assailant charged toward Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair on Sunday, injuring several people, campaign officials said.
Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson said in a statement that the suspect tackled the volunteers to the ground and was arrested with “multiple weapons.”
Acton was not injured, but campaign officials said multiple people were injured.
The Ohio gubernatorial race has become one of the most closely watched races of the year as we enter the final six weeks of campaigning before the November general election.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine hired Acton, a former associate professor of public health at Ohio State University, to lead the Ohio Department of Health in 2019. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in early 2020, she gained state and national attention and became a source of comfort for many viewers of the governor’s daily news conferences.
For her work as health director, Ms. Acton received the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile of Courage During Coronavirus Award, the Columbus Foundation’s Spirit of Columbus Award, and the Alumni Medalist Award, Ohio State’s highest honor for alumni.
But her position as the face of the DeWine administration’s aggressive stance on the virus has also earned Acton many enemies, including state Republicans who oppose pandemic restrictions and average Ohioans.
She is “thankful for the swift and decisive action of law enforcement and wishes the injured a speedy recovery. This type of violence has no place in the state of Ohio. Dr. Acton will always stand up against the chaos, hatred, and vitriol that divides us,” said Addie Bullock, the campaign’s communications director.
Acton is facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. Mr. Ramaswamy has used his national name recognition, ties to the tech industry and alliance with President Donald Trump to raise record amounts of money and secure advertising space ahead of the November election. He has used campaign rallies and ads to criticize Acton, the state’s former public health director.
Ramaswamy called Sunday’s incident unacceptable.
“Candidates should be able to meet with voters without fear of intimidation or violence. What happened today is completely unacceptable and has no place in politics. I hope no one gets hurt,” Connie Luck, Mr. Ramaswamy’s communications director, said in a statement Sunday.
The Fairgrounds Police Department referred inquiries to the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, which did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Ohio State Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for information.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, condemned the incident, saying he and his wife were “disturbed by today’s attempted attack on Amy Acton at the Canfield Fair. We are grateful for the swift response of law enforcement. This type of behavior has no place and must never be tolerated.”
Political violence has increased in the country over the past decade. That includes the 2017 shooting at the Republican Congressional Baseball team’s practice field in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2022, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was assaulted with a hammer in California. The assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally during the 2024 presidential campaign and the assassination attempt on the president at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April of this year. And last year, a Democratic Minnesota congressman, her husband, and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk were assassinated in Utah.
Federal political committees will spend more than $40 million on security-labeled expenses during the 2023-24 election cycle, according to a report released in April by the Public Service Alliance, a nonpartisan group focused on public employee security, the latest for which data is publicly available.
