Political group pledges $5M to help Acton win Senate primary
A political group backing Amy Acton’s Senate bid has pledged to spend up to $5 million to help the former Ohio health director win the Democratic primary next year.
314 Action Fund, which launched an effort two weeks ago to encourage Acton to run, is announcing the significant spend in the hopes it nudges Acton toward running. The group recruits and backs Democratic candidates with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds.
“If Amy Acton gets in this race, Amy Acton is the nominee and is most likely the senator in Ohio post-november,” said executive director Josh Morrow.
“We’re committed to getting her through the primary.”
Acton, a licensed physician, was appointed state health department director by Republican Gov. Mike Dewine in February 2019.
She left that post in June 2020, after leading the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Dewine administration two months later.
Acton has declined to comment on her political plans.
Polling commissioned by 314 Action found a majority of Democratic voters still have a favorable opinion of her.
Acton stepped away from her job at the philanthropic nonprofit The Columbus
Foundation in early February to explore a campaign. She has since given no indication publicly of whether she’ll run or not.
The 2022 race for the seat being vacated by Sen. Rob Portman is expected to be the costliest in Ohio history, both in terms of spending by candidates and by outside groups like 314 Action. If seen as competitive, the race could draw tens of millions in national funding in the general – that’s one reason 314 Action is targeting the primary, Morrow said.
No Democrats have officially announced their campaigns. But U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who lives in Trumbull County’s Howland Township, has been accumulating endorsements in anticipation of a run.
Ryan already has a federal campaign account he can use to raise money for the Senate race.
That puts him ahead, fundraising wise, of Acton and other potential candidates such as House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes and Franklin County Recorder Danny O’connor.
On the Republican side, former Ohio GOP leader Jane Timken and former state treasurer Josh Mandel are in. Still mulling a bid are Cleveland businessmen Bernie Moreno and Mike Gibbons, state Sen. Matt Dolan and U.S. Reps. Steve Stivers and Mike Turner. Venture capitalist and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance hasn’t yet announced, but a PAC supporting him got a $10 million boost from technology venture capitalist Peter Thiel.