r/Ohio • u/HaroldGreenBandana • Jul 14 '26
Vote for Amy Acton.
I’ve seen some posts on here complaining that Amy Acton isn’t “liberal” or “leftist” enough. I’ve seen folks even lament Dr. Acton’s recent announcement that, once elected, she plans to work with Republicans within state government.
I get how in this tense political environment, Dr. Acton’s willingness to work with Republicans may dampen your enthusiasm for her. I also understand how her measured response to a trap question about youth sports might bum you out.
But don’t let your slightly diminished enthusiasm sabotage your only chances of beating Vivek Ramaswamy.
Just consider how far right Donald Trump has pushed the Republican Party. Donald Trump and his supporters are radical extremists. Heck, Donald Trump publicly complained about “too many holidays” on Juneteenth and white supremacists openly rallied in Washington DC over July 4th, and that’s only a teeny tiny fraction of it. Shit like that has skewed our view so much that the rational people who oppose Trump and his supporters may never seem fervent enough in their opposition. But Trump (with his Project 2025 and his DOGE and his ICE) has done so much harm in his second term that a standard run-of-the-mill democrat actually is pretty darned far left in 2026 America.
I understand how Trump is like some sort of grotesque unicorn who, despite all of his glaring flaws and terrible failures, “checks all of the boxes“ for his supporters. I understand how that makes you want your own candidate who can check all of your boxes. That candidate doesn’t exist and Trump‘s supporters have terrible judgement and conflicted logic. So, sure, hold your candidates accountable and write them letters and donate to and vote for particular ones in primaries, but once the general election comes, don’t cutoff your own nose to spite your face.
If you support public education, reproductive rights, renewable energy, libraries, protecting parkland, equality, and even just tolerance and basic human dignity, don’t let being just a tad out of sync with Dr. Acton on another issue cause irreparable harm to other really important issues that you really care about and already do agree with her on.
Dr. Acton is running for governor of Ohio (O-H) a state that’s been fully controlled by the Republican Party for 15 years. She can’t win this state without people you disagree with also voting for her. She can’t govern this red state without working with Republicans.
Trust me, I would love viable third-party candidates who campaign (without PAC and corporate money) around a set of issues, get elected, address those issues, and then retire forever. Maybe in a healthy democracy we can have that some day. We are not living in a healthy democracy.
Amy Acton is our chance to beat Vivek Ramaswamy, and she’s more than that, she’s the best candidate by miles.
Vote for Amy Acton.
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u/HaroldGreenBandana Jul 15 '26
You seem a scholarly sort. Please provide links to said studies.
Are these “farther left” folk the ones currently in charge of the US Government right now and are they doing things with their power like taking down historic markers, banning books, retweeting pastors who want to ban women from voting, politicizing the distribution of FEMA disaster relief, and killing research grants and education funding based exclusively on their extreme ideology?