Democrat Amy Acton will reportedly not debate Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor’s race.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Amy Acton’s campaign manager Phil Stein said that she will not be “platforming a scam artist who spreads baseless lies.”
“Dr. Acton’s focus is talking with Ohioans, not platforming a scam artist who spreads baseless lies about her and her family, uses AI to falsely paint her as someone with a substance abuse problem, and shames Dr. Acton for being sexually abused as a child while Vivek stands with predators and abusers,” he said.
“Ramaswamy and his billionaire buddies have spent more than $50 million on disgusting, inaccurate attack ads that have been condemned as the ‘most vile and repulsive lies’ Ohio has ever seen,” he added.
As noted by reporter Henry Gomez, the “substance abuse accusations, which have not been substantiated, stem from an incident that police responded to at Acton’s home in 2019 in which, per the report, she told officers she’d been drinking and taken an unknown amount of prescription drugs.”
Vivek Ramaswamy responded in a statement, describing debates as the “equivalent of a job interview.”
“Debates are the equivalent of a job interview for candidates running for office,” he said. “Candidates need to be willing to publicly debate and not shy away from them out of fear of scrutiny.”
“It’s too bad for Ohio voters that Acton won’t take voter questions, won’t debate, quit after failing as Ohio’s health director, and has some serious issues now surfaced in multiple police reports. We pray for her, but this isn’t someone fit to lead our state of 12 million people,” he also said.
Vivek also shared a previous statement from Amy Acton’s running mate, David Pepper, who said in 2014 that not debating shows “contempt for voters and civic groups.”
“Amy Acton’s running mate says that refusing to debate shows ‘contempt for voters and civic groups’ and that ‘candidates owe it to their fellow Ohioans to stand next to each other to defend their positions.’ It’s a valid point, hopefully they talk it out amongst themselves,” he said.
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