November 6, 2026

Democrat Amy Acton won the Ohio governor’s race on Tuesday by more than 360,000 votes — while carrying just 15 of the state’s 88 counties.

The unofficial results, with about 98% of precincts reporting, show Acton defeating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy by 2,404,178 votes to 2,039,730, a margin of 364,448 votes, or about 7.9 percentage points. Libertarian Don Kissick finished with 151,874 votes, 3.30% of the total. A total of 4,595,782 votes were cast in the race.


The map vs. the math

Ramaswamy carried 73 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Acton carried 15 — but hers were the big ones.
Acton’s counties are the state’s urban and suburban population centers: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, Montgomery and Summit, along with Athens, Delaware, Erie, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Portage, Trumbull and Wood. Her strongest showings were in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties, where she ran in the 70–80% range. Her narrowest win was Erie County, in the 40–50% range.

Ramaswamy’s support ran widest across rural Ohio. His strongest counties, where he ran in the 70–80% range, were Auglaize, Darke, Holmes, Mercer, Putnam and Shelby. In Mercer County, he took 75.77% of the vote. His narrowest wins were Stark and Fairfield counties, both in the 40–50% range.

He carried his home county of Butler, 52.29%, but lost Hamilton County decisively — Acton took about 63% of the vote there.

First Democrat to win the office in 20 years
Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, becomes the first woman elected governor of Ohio and the first Democrat to win the office since 2006. She will be inaugurated on Jan. 11, 2027.

The results remain unofficial until certified by the Ohio Secretary of State and the county boards of elections. County winners were tallied from the county-by-countyt results and cross-checked against county canvasses and local reporting.

Sources: Associated Press; Ohio Secretary of State unofficial results; county boards of elections.

Did you know…

The Senate race: same 15 counties, closer margins

The U.S. Senate special election followed the same map. Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted by 2,301,042 votes to 2,077,748, a margin of 223,294 votes, or about 4.9 percentage points. Libertarian Bill Redpath finished with 128,272 votes (2.79%) and independent Greg Levy with 94,509 (2.05%). A total of 4,601,571 votes were cast in the race.
Brown carried 15 counties. Husted carried 73. They were the same 15 and the same 73 as in the governor’s race.

Brown’s 15: Athens, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Erie, Franklin, Hamilton, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, Portage, Summit, Trumbull and Wood. His strongest showing was in Cuyahoga County, in the 70–80% range. His narrowest wins were Erie, Lake, Portage, Trumbull and Wood, all in the 40–50% range.
Seven of Brown’s 15 counties were carried by Republican JD Vance in the 2022 Senate race: Delaware, Lake, Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage, Wood and Erie. In the Mahoning Valley, Mahoning County moved from R+3.5 in 2022 to D+7.2, and Trumbull County from R+7.1 to D+2.6.

Husted, like Ramaswamy, ran strongest in rural Ohio, including Mercer County in the 70–80% range — Husted took 76.30% of the vote there. His narrowest win was Stark County, in the 40–50% range.

Brown, who represented Ohio in the Senate for 18 years before losing reelection in 2024, completes the term won in 2022 by JD Vance, serving through Jan. 3, 2029. It is the first time a Democrat has won Ohio’s Class 3 Senate seat since 1992. Under state law, Husted leaves office on Dec. 15.

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