Obama Rallies in Cleveland for Brown and Acton as Ohio Race Tightens

Former President Barack Obama returned to Ohio on Saturday, October 24, to campaign for the state's Democratic ticket. He spoke at Cleveland's Public Auditorium, where a packed house turned out to support Sherrod Brown in his bid to return to the U.S. Senate and Amy Acton in her run for governor.

Ohio was once a bellwether state, and Obama was a regular presence there during his White House campaigns. He remains the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state, winning it in 2008 and 2012. Brown faces Republican Jon Husted, while Acton is running against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.

Obama told the crowd that this election feels familiar to him. After so many years of campaigning, he said, he can sense when a race is different, when people are "so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired" that change seems to be in the air. Brown said he sees the same energy across the state, in cities, suburbs, small towns and farm country, and described voters as angry, frustrated and demanding change.

The rally came at the end of a week in Ohio politics dominated by a Ramaswamy campaign ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, who accuses the candidate of lying about her past. Acton says she has had no contact with her mother since she was 12, when records show her stepfather was arrested and charged with raping her. Her mother stayed with the man, who was never convicted and fled the state. He remained a fugitive until his death in 2004.

Acton accused her opponent of exploiting her childhood "to save his struggling campaign," and said it would not work. "I am a scrappy kid from Youngstown, and scrappy kids from Youngstown we never back down from a fight," she said. Obama also criticized the ad, saying there is a decency that should be expected of public officials and questioning how standards have fallen low enough for such an ad to run.

Ramaswamy told News 5 on Friday that Democrats are lying about the ad, which he said concerned only lying. "Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse," he said, adding that his campaign condemns such abuse as forcefully as anyone. He said the ad addressed what he called a consistent track record of Acton telling lies.

In a speech that ran about 40 minutes, Obama was also sharply critical of President Donald Trump. He cited the president's handling of foreign and domestic affairs, the effect of tariffs and the Iran war on affordability, and threats to health care from Medicaid cuts. Obama mocked the president's focus on White House renovations, including a ballroom, and accused him of working to enrich himself, his family and his associates. Obama said the president has become billions of dollars wealthier in office.

Republicans pushed back. Anna Marian Block, deputy communications director for the Republican Governors Association, said Democrats are coming to Ohio because Acton "can't stand on her own record." She pointed to decisions that she said closed schools and hurt businesses, and said Acton quit on Ohio.

Amy Natoce, a spokesperson for Husted, said the sight of Brown and Obama together "should send shivers down Ohioans' spines." She said the pair delivered higher taxes, fewer jobs and open borders.