By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D.
The Truth Contributor
Money is the mother’s milk of politics. – Jesse Unruh
Toledo is about to tax itself for decisions made in Columbus. According to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, those decisions have cost this city $288 million since 2008. In November, Toledoans get to vote on who made them.
The 2026 governor’s race comes down to one question: does the next governor see Toledo as a city worth investing in — or a budget line worth cutting? Toledo’s Black community has more riding on this answer than the mainstream coverage suggests and cannot afford to sit this one out.
The Race
Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech billionaire and former 2024 presidential candidate. Dr. Amy Acton ran Ohio’s public health department during COVID, briefing Ohioans daily and guiding us through the pandemic. Cook Political Report recently moved this race from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up.” Polling has them essentially tied at 46-45. This race is real.
Acton has outraised Ramaswamy from actual donors in 2026 — $11.5 million to $9.6 million — with 58 percent of her donors being Ohioans versus 16 percent of his. But Ramaswamy loaned himself $25 million, and his super PAC has raised an additional $29.5 million. He has the money advantage. The question is whether it can buy what his image so far has not.
Look at the campaign finance numbers from a Toledo perspective. Acton drives a UAW-built Jeep around Ohio. Ramaswamy spent more than half a million dollars leasing a private jet through what appears to be his own company, V Leasing LLC, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. In a city where the mayor uses the Jeep plant as his benchmark for economic pain, that is not incidental.
What One Governor Can Actually Do
So far, the campaigns have left something important unsaid. Republicans hold a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. When Governor DeWine — a Republican — vetoed 67 provisions from last year’s state budget, the legislature recalled members from their summer break and overrode several provisions anyway. A governor’s veto slows a supermajority. It does not stop one.
No governor can restore Toledo’s $288 million by winning this race. The legislature controls that money. What the governor controls is the veto pen, the executive appointments, the bully pulpit, and the negotiating table. Those tools matter — the difference between a governor who fights for cities and one who doesn’t is real — but Toledo voters deserve honest expectations, not campaign promises.
What Each Candidate Means for Toledo
Ramaswamy wants to eliminate Ohio’s state income tax. Toledo has been living the answer to what that means — $288 million gone in 18 years. His platform hasn’t addressed it. With a supermajority legislature at his back, there’s no pressure to.
Acton’s platform centers on affordability — child tax credits, drug price transparency, medical debt relief, full public school funding. Her veto pen would slow further cuts even if she cannot reverse 18 years of them. One political observer raised a cautionary note worth hearing: “she (Acton) and her running mate may be positioning themselves too far left for a state that needs the center to win.” So, it is worth watching whether she adjusts as the general election unfolds.
Two of Ohio’s largest labor organizations have weighed in. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Ohio — 27,000 members statewide — endorsed Acton. So did the UAW, whose Region 2B Director Dave Green said Ohioans “don’t need another corrupt politician backed by billionaires.” UAW members build Jeeps in Toledo. The IBEW wires buildings across Lucas County. When those unions move together in a race this close, it matters.
The Question Toledo Needs Answered
It’s been a long, hot summer in just a few short weeks for Toledo, living through the shootings, the safety tax, the prevention programs on patchwork grants, the neighborhoods carrying what Columbus stopped sending. From where I sit, neither candidate has yet made a compelling case to Toledo’s Black community about what truly changes when either candidate wins — and what stays the same, because the supermajority remains.
Before November, demand that case. Which candidate has a real plan for cities like Toledo that accounts for the constraints they will genuinely face? Which one will use every tool available to slow the hemorrhage that costs Toledo $16 million per year before we bleed out? Which one sees Toledo as a city worth fighting for?
Gas is expensive. Groceries are expensive. Utilities are off the chain. A safety tax is coming. Toledo is about to tax itself for decisions made in Columbus. November 3 is the most defining choice Toledo has had in years.
Make it count.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, at drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org