Democratic candidates Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown bring their statewide campaigns to Dayton on Monday evening, with singer John Legend set to join them at a rally as Ohio’s governor and U.S. Senate races enter their final week before the November 3 election.
The Dayton event is set for 6:15 p.m. on Monday, October 26, according to WKEF. Acton, the former Ohio Department of Health director, is running for governor against Vivek Ramaswamy, while Brown, the former U.S. senator, is seeking to return to the Senate against Sen. Jon Husted. Legend, an EGOT winner and a native of Springfield, roughly 25 miles northeast of Dayton, has long campaigned for Democratic candidates and causes.
The Dayton stop is part of a closing statewide push built around well-known supporters. On Sunday, Acton and Brown campaigned in Akron with Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, a day after former President Barack Obama rallied with them in Cleveland. The tour continues Wednesday, October 28 in Cincinnati, where Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National are scheduled to appear.
The rally comes as the governor’s race has turned sharply personal in its final days. A Ramaswamy campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, who questions Acton’s account of her childhood, has drawn bipartisan criticism. Acton has called the ad an exploitation of her mother, while President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have defended the spot.
Court records from 1978 show Acton’s stepfather was arrested and indicted on charges of sexually assaulting her when she was under 13, and that her mother lost custody of Acton and her brother that year. Acton has said she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old.
For Dayton-area voters, Monday’s rally is one of the last chances to see both top-of-the-ticket Democratic candidates in person before Election Day. Early in-person voting continues across Ohio through Sunday, November 1, with extended evening hours this week.
Polls close on the campaigns’ surrogate tours after this week, and both parties are shifting to get-out-the-vote operations for the final weekend. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, with Ohio polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Photo: Warren LeMay, CC BY