Ohio’s Best (Potential) Ticket in 20 Years 🤞

Let’s Make It So

My phone rang all day yesterday: reporters from all over looking to confirm the news that Sherrod Brown will run for the U.S. Senate (against appointee Jon Husted).

I explained to those who called that I wasn’t on the inside, so I couldn’t confirm the news.

But I am happy to confirm this: if Sherrod does indeed run, Ohio Democrats will have the strongest top of the ticket we’ve had since 2006.

Which also happens to be the last mid-term in the second term of an unpopular GOP president…and no coincidence, the last time Democrats flipped the state blue.

So I hope it happens!

Why do I say such a good ticket?

And such a good opportunity?

Four reasons. Four names.

Acton.

As I’ve written recently, Dr. Amy Acton has the highest job approval rating of any public figure in Ohio.

At +10, it’s not even close: “Notably, her job approval is bipartisan, with Democrats giving her very strong ratings, Independents rating her performance as Health Director positively by a 15-point margin, and even 19% of Republicans approving.” (As I asked before, when’s the last time the person with the highest job approval in Ohio was the Democratic candidate for Governor?)

That strong support is the main reason Dr. Acton has been tied or ahead of Ramaswamy in virtually every poll, even when she’s never run for office before. Her strong position is already getting national attention.

And we’re seeing a movement build around her candidacy on the ground. Her events draw crowds you usually see at the end of campaigns, but she’s been packing rooms from the moment she’s started:

That’s also translating into early fundraising success. Starting with no list and no donors in January, but building steadily, her goodwill and burgeoning grassroots support has already fueled 33,000+ donations:

A record, and the kind of base that allows you to grow and compete with a billionaire.

And the conventional wisdom some insiders have shared for months—that her work during the pandemic presents some kind of Achilles Heel—turns out not to be true. (Reminder: few things are more dangerous in politics than unproven groupthink) Just as it wasn’t true for any Democratic Governor who ran for reelection in 2022.

Ironically, the Democratic brand itself is far worse than the brand of having saved lives (and not played politics) during the pandemic: ““In a forced-choice, voters were 19 points less concerned about Acton’s role in the Covid response as they were other generic lines of attack against Democrats.”

So her biggest challenge is not her own record—it’s overcoming a hurdle any Democrat must overcome at the moment.

But that’s why her background and brand are actually helpful. Polls have consistently shown that, assuming Sherrod enters the Senate race, Dr Acton is the best positioned Democrat to beat Ramaswamy. Her status as an outsider—a doctor rather than politician—is a far stronger contrast to Ramaswamy than a more traditional Democratic politician. This is especially the case when Ramaswamy can frame himself as an outsider as well.

LINK HERE for the full polling memo by 314Action, walking through Amy’s decisive advantages in a hypothetical Democratic primary (where she leads by 14) as well as in a general election.

Bottom line: Dr. Acton’s candidacy represents a rare opportunity, with huge upside. Time to seize it.

Brown.

Until last year, Sherrod Brown had survived Ohio’s move to the right amid the Trump era. I was proud to have been a part of his re-election in 2018, by about 7 points.

Even in 2024, with hundreds of millions spent smearing him, Brown overperformed the top of the ticket by 8 points—losing by 3 points amid a strong Trump turnout. He remains one of the most popular figures in Ohio.

In a non-Trump year, and a midterm (like 2006) when Trump is less popular, that level of over-performance could spell victory as opposed to narrow defeat.

And this Ohio seat could very well emerge as the tipping point seat for who controls the US Senate. Which means there will be major national investment in Ohio to turn out Democratic voters across Ohio.

Ramaswamy.

I have described in numerous posts what an odd, out-of-touch campaign we are already seeing from Vivek Ramaswamy—which began shortly after he moved his business from Columbus to Texas(!?)…

…has included bizarre billboards in New York City…

…and most recently, we learn, involves $80,000 a month being spent on a private jet as Vivek treats the state as flyover country:

Well, apparently Ohioans are paying attention. One reason Acton is tied in the polls is because Ramaswamy’s negatives are astoundingly high — with 41% viewing him unfavorably, with 35% viewing him very unfavorability.

Those are usually the numbers you see of a candidate who has just been through a campaign where millions have been spent against him.

But with Ramaswamy, that’s not the case. These sky-high negatives are simply a function of his own personality and rhetoric turning off that many Ohioans.

It’s actually astounding that so many Ohioans have soured on him this early.

Husted.

Unlike Ramaswamy, Husted’s weaknesses have been earned via years of hard work. Before being tapped as Ohio’s US Senator (where he’s embraced every part of Trump’s toxic agenda), Husted emerged as the poster child of Ohio’s pay-to-play culture and resulting failures.

Indeed, like Ohio’s own Keyser Söze, Husted has this pattern of playing central roles in events that exploded into some of the biggest scandals in Ohio history.

And there are so many receipts!

Here he is proudly receiving an honorary degree from a for-profit electronic “school” (called ECOT) that turned out to be a massive scam:

And he was given this first honorary degree because according to ECOT’s founder (and Husted donor), the school/scam would not have grown without Husted’s help. (Fact check: true!)

Then there’s this incredible receipt—

…a handwritten note held by the now-indicted former CEO of First Energy when he had dinner with Husted and DeWine to request the installation of a First Energy consultant as the chair of the regulator of First Energy. You’ll see that “Jon H.” was in on the details even before the meeting, and later (as “State Official 2”) played a key role in ensuring that this tainted appointment happened:

(The appointee would later commit suicide after being indicted for bribery that accompanied the appointment Husted helped push through).

And then there’s private school vouchers, wreaking havoc across Ohio—billions going to private schools with zero transparency or accountability, largely to families who were already attending those private schools. Husted takes great pride in being the father of this disaster.

And to help ensure that there are no checks and balances on the voucher giveaway, Husted also played a key role in wiping out the power of the state’s elected school board, a truly toxic stance for Ohio voters:

Here’s a whiteboard and far longer explanation of Husted’s many challenges.

Let’s Go!

Acton v. Ramaswamy.

Brown v. Husted.

An opportunity to turn our state around after decades of decline.

And an opportunity to save the nation from the daily nightmare coming out of Washington.

One other benefit: Acton and Brown bring different brands and experiences to the table, and different coalitions. They are complementary to one another, as opposed to redundant. Together, their joint coalition spans far wider than what they each bring individually.

And with those two at the top comes the opportunity to recruit the rest of the statewide ticket, and then inspire candidates to run in every district of the state of Ohio.

THAT is how you turn Ohio blue.

Suggestion: Let’s not to screw this up.