Vivek Ramaswamy appeared at Cleveland's Columbus Day Parade on Monday, walking the route in Little Italy as Ohio's governor's race enters its final stretch. With 22 days left until the midterm elections, the Republican nominee is in a dead heat with Democrat Dr. Amy Acton, and both campaigns are leaning hard on local tradition and grassroots appearances rather than shared debate stages.
Ramaswamy told reporters covering the parade that he felt fantastic about the race and expected to win decisively, according to News 5 Cleveland. News 5’s October 12 report identifies Columbus Bureau Reporter Morgan Trau as reporting and anchor Damon Maloney as the person who interviewed Ramaswamy. The outlet reported that Ramaswamy used the parade to pitch his plan to bring down property taxes, telling the crowd that his Democratic opponent has no plan to lower them. He also said he believes in the importance of the crisis pregnancy care network and plans to help fund it.
A Cleveland Tradition Rooted in Little Italy
The parade Ramaswamy walked traces back to 1920 under the sponsorship of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, and it was held in downtown Cleveland for decades before relocating permanently to Little Italy in 2004, according to WKYC 3News. This year's event, held Monday, moved along Mayfield and Murray Hill roads with former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Fratello serving as grand marshal, per the Italian Sons and Daughters of America.
Ramaswamy's appearance came as other national Republican figures fanned out across Ohio. The same day, per the News 5 report, Donald Trump was in Youngstown for a campaign event alongside Jon Husted and Ramaswamy, marking Trump's second visit to Ohio in just over a week. JD Vance also campaigned in the state on October 9. Husted, Ohio's sitting U.S. senator, faces Democratic opponent and former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown in a separate statewide race playing out alongside the governor's contest.
Polling Shows a Race Flipping Late
The parade stop landed just as the governor's race shifted. Latest polling shows Ramaswamy in a tight race against Acton, and a co/efficient survey released this month found him edging ahead 45% to 43%, breaking a streak of five consecutive polls that had favored Acton, according to Newsweek. Both candidates are vying for their first elected public office, and both chose seasoned state political veterans as running mates — Ramaswamy picked Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, while Acton selected former Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper, per WOUB Public Media.
Property taxes have become one of the race's defining fault lines. Ramaswamy has called for rolling property taxes back to pre-pandemic levels and capping future growth, while Acton's July plan proposed expanding the senior Homestead Exemption income limit to $50,000 and creating a $1,000 rebate for homeowners facing tax spikes above 4%, according to the Statehouse News Bureau. Ramaswamy has also pledged to eliminate Ohio's personal income tax and capital gains tax, a commitment that helped win him the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's political action committee endorsement in July.
No Debates, Dueling Parade Circuits Instead
The two campaigns aren't sharing a debate stage this cycle. Acton has publicly refused to debate Ramaswamy, calling her Republican opponent a chronic liar during a recent campaign appearance, as reported by The Economic Times. That refusal, following months of escalating attacks between the two camps, helps explain why both candidates are instead crisscrossing the state independently, trading debate podiums for parade routes and county fair stops.
Both campaigns pushed earlier this fall for pocketbook relief that eventually became law. The Ohio Legislature passed an emergency 90-day suspension of the state's 38.5-cents-per-gallon gas tax in late September, a measure expected to cost the state more than $700 million in lost revenue, with lawmakers using part of the prior fiscal year's surplus to pay for the holiday, according to WOSU Public Media. Governor Mike DeWine, barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive term, signed the measure following an emergency legislative session.
Historic Stakes on the Ballot
Whoever wins in November will make Ohio history. A Ramaswamy victory would make him the state's first Indian American, Hindu, and billionaire governor, while an Acton win would mark Ohio's first female and first Jewish governor, per Wikipedia's entry on the race. Ramaswamy enters the final weeks having already cleared one legal hurdle: the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a lawsuit in August seeking to remove him from the ballot over questions about his U.S. citizenship, ruling the challenger lacked standing, as Hoodline previously reported.
