Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy holds big cash lead over Democrat Amy Acton after $25 million loan

Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton raised $5.2 million during the first quarter of this year, and since joining the race for governor, she’s cleared $10 million, according to recently released campaign finance reports.

It’s an historic sum for the physician who led Ohio’s health department during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her campaign noted no previous Democratic hopeful has raised so much at this point in the calendar.

That announcement, which revised a previous quarterly fundraising total of $4.8 million, came after Republican Vivek Ramaswamy announced bringing in roughly $5 million from donors.

Despite that showing, however, money is likely a race Acton can’t win.

Although both candidates’ fundraising lands in the same ballpark when it comes to donors, Ramaswamy is a billionaire. Acton is not. In addition to raising $5 million in the first quarter, Ramaswamy cut his campaign a check for $25 million. That’s separate from the Super PAC supporting Ramaswamy, which has raised another $29.5 million thus far.

In a press release, Ramaswamy’s campaign described the candidate’s eight-figure cash infusion as making good on a campaign pledge to spend at least $30 million of his own money on the race.

Meanwhile, Acton’s campaign manager Phil Stein said Ramaswamy is “panicking.”

“He can continue throwing money at his campaign from the seat of his private jet, but Ohioans see right through his false promises,” he said.

Ramaswamy’s $25 million is structured as a loan, meaning he can use money his campaign raises to pay himself back.

Acton’s Q1

Acton garnered over 195,000 total donations in the first quarter, 43% of which came from individual donors. Stein said in a press release these numbers are “proof that Ohioans are ready for change.”

“Ohioans are sick and tired of struggling to make ends meet,” Stein said. “They want a Governor who understands what they are going through instead of claiming affordability is a “buzzword”, and they know Amy is the only candidate in this race who will lower costs and build a state where all of us can thrive.”

Some of Acton’s biggest individual sums came from labor PACs, including United Healthcare Workers East and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Columbus. Acton also received donations from top executives at Amazon, Kroger, and Alpha Generation, an independent power producer.

Her biggest expense was about $1.4 million on digital advertising, nearly all of which went to Liftoff Campaigns LLC. According to POLITICO, the group launched in 2023 to help Democratic candidates align their campaign and fundraising messaging. Acton also spent about 50 bucks on digital ads on X.

The Acton campaign has taken every opportunity available to bash Ramaswamy for flying private. During the first quarter, Acton spent nearly $20,000 on airfare with commercial airlines.

That’s about half of what Ramaswamy spends each month to lease his jet.

Ramaswamy’s Q1

Among Ramaswamy’s big donors are leaders in finance, energy and real estate. He got five grand from an executive at an independent Pepsi bottling company, ten more from Sbarro’s CEO, and the leader of NetJets maxed out for Ramaswamy — giving the campaign $16,615.67.

The second biggest share of funding came in the form of a $290,000 transfer from Rob McColley’s campaign fund. Ramaswamy tapped the Senate President to be his running mate in January. The biggest contribution, of course, came from Ramaswamy himself.

In a press release, Ramaswamy’s campaign manager John Ewing bragged they were “resetting all fundraising benchmarks” and received support from 120,000 unique donors, 98% of whom gave less than $200.

“No gubernatorial campaign in Ohio history has ever put up numbers like this,” he said, “and it sends a clear message: Ohioans are fired up for Vivek, our campaign is growing, and we will win big in November.”

Even more notable is Ramaswamy’s campaign spending. During the first quarter, Ramaswamy spent $12.5 million — or roughly two-and-a-half times what he brought in.

The biggest share of the spending was a $10 million ad buy the campaign announced early last month. At the time, Ewing stated the ad blitz would continue until November.

Nearly $7 million of that total went to The Strategy Group, the Ohio firm that became embroiled in a $220 million ad scandal that contributed to the ouster of Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem. On social media, The Strategy Group stated it only received about a quarter million dollars to produce the ads.

In the first quarter of 2026, Ramaswamy spent nearly $120,000 to lease a private jet. That brings his total spending on the private plane to more than half a million dollars since the campaign began. Notably, the aircraft is leased through a company which Ramaswamy himself owns called V Leasing LLC.

Ramaswamy’s campaign also racked up more than $162,000 in credit card bills during the quarter, including more than $96,000 in the most recent billing period alone.

The Ohio Capital Journal asked Ramaswamy’s campaign if V Leasing earns a return in the private plane arrangement and whether it could provide an itemized statement of its credit card spending. The campaign did not respond.

V-PAC

In addition to his own personal fortune, Ramaswamy stands to gain from the largesse of others. The Super PAC supporting his bid for governor, V-PAC: Victors, not Victims, has raised $29.5 million since the beginning of 2025. At the end of March, it had $23 million in cash on hand.

Super PACs can run ads supporting or opposing specific candidates, but they can’t coordinate with a candidate’s campaign or make direct contributions. The groups also have to report their donors, but there’s no limit on what those donors can contribute.

A single donor, Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, has so far poured $20 million into V-PAC, including two $5 million contributions during the first quarter of 2026. Yass heads up the investment firm Susquehanna International Group and is worth more than $67 billion according to Forbes.

Back in 2024, when Ohio voters were considering an amendment that would’ve established an independent redistricting commission, Ramaswamy urged Ohioans to vote no. On social media, he complained the effort was being “funded by left-wing billionaires from out-of-state.”

The Super-PAC also received a quarter million dollars from the Scotts Company and $150,000 from the Sports Betting Alliance — a group representing online sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel. A for-profit charter school operator called Pansophic Learning pitched in another $25,000.

Outside of a $3 million ad buy in March of last year, the Super PAC’s spending has been relatively modest. The biggest expense during the first quarter was three $150,000 digital ad buys supporting Ramaswamy spread out roughly every four weeks.