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Kent State University President Slams Vivek Ramaswamy’s Plan to Shut Down Ohio Colleges & Universities 

Columbus, Ohio- Yesterday, in a rare move for a university president, Kent State University’s President joined a growing group of Ohioans slamming Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to close colleges and universities across Ohio. 

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to shut down colleges and universities, including Kent State, is so dangerous for our state that even university presidents are speaking out,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ramaswamy’s only experience with the communities he wants to destroy is from the window of his private jet while he plots to rip away opportunities, jobs, and healthcare from countless Ohioans.” 

Read the full piece about how Ramaswamy’s plan would harm Kent State here: 

  • The public university system in Ohio wasn’t assembled carelessly. It was built by elected leaders responding to real public demand. Republican Gov. James Rhodes came to office in 1963 on a campaign promise to place a public university within 30 miles of every Ohio citizen. […] This was not a waste. This was Ohio investing in itself.
  • The universities didn’t drift into this moment. Even though public investment was quietly withdrawn over decades, our institutions have continued to deliver ever-improving results.
  • There is also a community argument that deserves to be made. What happens to Salem without its Kent State campus? To Ashtabula, to Geauga, to Tuscarawas County and all the other communities in which Kent State maintains a vital presence?
  • The campuses Gov. Rhodes envisioned aren’t redundancies. They are lifelines – for the students, for local employers, for the civic identities of communities that have built themselves, in part, around the presence of a university in their midst. To abandon our regional campuses would be to abandon our state’s small-town heartbeat.
  • As Ohio’s fourth-longest-serving public university president, I offer these words not to protect turf, but because the conversation Ohio deserves is grounded in facts. Indeed, my colleagues at the other public universities have equally powerful, distinctive stories of success to share, and together, Ohio’s public universities advance the future of all Ohioans.

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One Week from Primary Day, Here’s What Ohioans Need to Know About Vivek Ramaswamy

Columbus, Ohio- There’s only one week to go until the Ohio primary. Here’s five things voters need to know about billionaire scam artist Vivek Ramaswamy.

“After more than a year of getting to know Vivek Ramaswamy, Ohioans are heading to the polls for the first time, and the more they have gotten to know Ramaswamy, the less they’ve liked him,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Working families won’t vote for a billionaire scam artist who called affordable healthcare a ‘mistake,’ doesn’t care about rising costs, and would rather call them lazy than get to work to bring down costs.”

  1. Ramaswamy called Medicaid and Medicare, programs that more than three million Ohioans rely on to afford healthcare, “mistakes.” Over 25% of Ohioans use Medicaid to afford care, while nearly 20% use Medicare. Without these programs, rural hospitals across Ohio would be in even greater danger of closure – forcing families to travel even farther for the care they need.
  1. Ramaswamy doesn’t believe costs are going up (and doesn’t care). He said the “perceived” rising cost of living was only in Ohioans’ imaginations and called affordability a “buzzword.” Meanwhile, he spent $780,000 on private jet travel last year and used campaign funds to play pickleball with the Paul Brothers in Puerto Rico while working Ohio families struggle to keep up with sky-high costs.
  1. He called Ohioans “lazy” and “mediocre” in an unhinged and revealing social media rant. Ramaswamy also moved his business to Texas just months before announcing his run for governor and was forced to drop out of a keynote speech at a conference advocating for outsourcing American jobs after facing online criticism from members of his own party.
  1. Ohioans see straight through Ramaswamy’s lies, including in his own party. Republican Governor Mike DeWine denounced his latest campaign ad as false and when asked if Ramaswamy would rather be a national political celebrity or governor, answered “both.” In late 2025, Ramaswamy took home an award for worst use of social media for a policy proposal so bad his biggest supporters thought it was AI.
  1. Ramaswamy doubled down on an unpopular proposal to close colleges and universities that would devastate communities across the state. He specifically singled out Kent State, Cleveland State, and Central State, public universities that serve tens of thousands of students and support jobs and small businesses in communities across Ohio.

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ICYMI: Brent Larkin: Ramaswamy Campaign Ad Is “A Lie”

COLUMBUS, OH – Yesterday, Brent Larkin addressed the Ramaswamy campaign’s latest smear, in which they falsely claimed in an ad that Dr. Acton was responsible for delaying the 2020 primary election. 

READ: Turning facts into lies? Welcome to Campaign 2026 in Ohio: Brent Larkin

  • As proven during his failed run for president in 2024, voters don’t much like Ramaswamy. He comes across as smart, but arrogant.
  • Trump’s declining popularity, skyrocketing fuel and grocery prices, and Ramaswamy’s unlikability explain why a concerned Ramaswamy campaign has already spent $10 million in television ads. Notably, the ads do not feature Ramaswamy talking to the camera.
  • This election is close. If it stays that way, if Ramaswamy’s attempt to buy the election with his own money doesn’t work, then his truth-shattering will accelerate. In one of its most recent television spots, the Ramaswamy campaign says Acton “called off” the 2020 primary election because of COVID-19.
  • …Again, on numerous occasions, and both before and after Ramaswamy began airing his attack ad on Acton, DeWine has said he gave the order for Acton to postpone the March 17 election.
  • If Ramaswamy is willing to obliterate (MAGA’s favorite verb) the truth about how and why all this happened during the most serious public health crisis in more than 100 years, maybe he shouldn’t be trusted to run this state.

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GOP Secretary of State Candidates Vow to Eliminate Drop Boxes, Going Against Local Election Officials

COLUMBUS, OH – While local election officials are making clear the importance of drop boxes in ensuring that Ohioans are able to cast their ballot in Ohio’s safe and secure elections, Republican candidates for Secretary of State are doubling down on their vow to eliminate drop boxes and make it even harder to vote. Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague even released a new ad vowing to “ditch the drop boxes” that so many Ohioans rely on to vote.

“Drop boxes are a safe and secure part of Ohio’s elections and they’re a critical way for Ohioans to be able to drop off their ballot and exercise their right to vote,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde. “Ohioans deserve a Secretary of State who will ensure that in Ohio’s elections, every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot free from barriers – not partisan politicians like the Republican candidates for Secretary of State who spread election conspiracies, tout repeatedly disproven misinformation, and are willing to go against the recommendations of local election officials to disenfranchise voters.”

This follows Republican candidates for Secretary of State recently trumpeting false claims of widespread voter fraud and refusing to admit the results of the 2020 presidential election.

While Republican candidates for Secretary of State vow to eliminate drop boxes, read more from Cleveland.com about what local election officials are saying about the importance of drop boxes:

  • “I know (the drop box) works out for some people who work during the day. If they need to come when our office is closed, they have the ability to drive right up and insert it into the drop box.” –Dante Lewis, director of the Lake County Board of Elections.
  • “I’m a big advocate for drop boxes. I think we should have more drop boxes than less.” –Tony Perlatti, Director, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

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REMINDER: Jon Husted Remains at Center of Largest Bribery Scandal in Ohio History

U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of top Jon Husted ally

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Today, the United States Supreme Court upheld the conviction of one of Jon Husted’s top allies in the FirstEnergy corruption scheme — the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history — proving this political headache isn’t going away for Husted anytime soon.

As a reminder, Jon Husted remains at the center of the massive scandal, with new reporting from the Associated Press revealing Husted’s ties to be much deeper than previously known. Previous reporting has already uncovered phone calls, text messages, and secret meetings between Husted and the indicted FirstEnergy executives, and Husted was forced to testify for the defense in a state criminal trial. 

Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen released the following statement:

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is another reminder that Jon Husted remains at the center of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history, and it’s costing Ohioans thousands of dollars more on their utility bills. As more details come to light about Jon Husted’s deep ties to the corruption scheme, Ohioans deserve accountability and answers about how deep his involvement goes.” 

READ MORE: 

Associated Press: Republicans plan big spending to keep Ohio’s Senate seat. A bribery scandal adds to their challenges

  • As he seeks to retain his U.S. Senate seat this fall, Ohio Republican Jon Husted has been unable to escape the shadow of a $60 million bribery scandal that has roiled state politics for more than five years.
  • Husted was recently called to testify as a defense witness in the related criminal trial of two former energy executives, testimony he might have to reprise after a hung jury led to a mistrial in the case in March. 
  • A judge in Akron scheduled the retrial to begin Sept. 28, meaning Husted could be back on the witness stand a week before early voting begins for the November elections.
  • Husted calendars that came to light during the recent trial involving executives for the utility, Akron-based FirstEnergy, showed a number of additional meetings or phone calls that he had with former CEO Chuck Jones, with the state’s former top utility regulator, who has since died, and with then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.
  • The interactions noted in Husted’s calendars were around the time the bailout bill was being developed and passed. Evidence presented in various cases showed Jones and Dowling discussing a push by Husted for additional subsidies in the legislation.
  • A longtime Ohio lobbyist told federal agents that FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary that owned the nuclear power plants helped by the bailout, funneled dark money to nonprofits that benefited Husted and Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican.
  • According to the notes from his Department of Justice interview obtained by The Associated Press and not previously reported, lobbyist Neil Clark identified one of the groups as Freedom Frontier. That was the very group that received a $1 million contribution in 2017 marked internally by FirstEnergy as “Husted campaign.”
  • Internal FirstEnergy communications from 2017 and 2018, which is evidence in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, include discussions involving Jones, Dowling and others about attending Husted events as far back as 2016. They also reflect Dowling’s concerns about dark money contributions becoming public.
  • Jones and Dowling also discussed strategies to contribute under alternate names. In July 2018, for instance, as the two were planning a DeWine-Husted fundraiser in Naples, Florida, they discussed contributing under one name while covering event costs under another — so there would be “no cost billed to (the) campaign.”
  • Husted declined a request for further comment about the details that have emerged as the various cases surrounding the bribery scandal play out.

As a reminder, Jon Husted played a central role “running the show” in the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history alongside Dowling and Jones:

  • New evidence during the trial revealed nine calls between Jon Husted and Mike Dowling in the months preceding a $4.3 million bribe to former Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo. 
  • New reporting revealed Jon Husted held secret meetings with Dowling and Jones, including with the “mastermind of Ohio’s largest public corruption scheme two days before scandal-ridden bribery legislation was introduced.”
  • Neil Clark, a FirstEnergy lobbyist and co-defendant with former House Speaker Larry Householder, referred to Husted as FirstEnergy’s “golden boy.”
  • Text messages between Husted, Dowling, and Jones reveal that the trio were in constant communication “before, during and after his campaign.” 
  • A dinner between Jon Husted and the indicted FirstEnergy executives at the Athletic Club of Columbus was a focal point of the criminal trial.
  • Public records show that FirstEnergy — led by Jones and Dowling — funneled $1 million in dark money to a dark money group backing Husted in 2017, part of the same corrupt scheme that led to federal and state indictments.

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