Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor, speaks about her priorities during a campaign stop at the Structural Iron Workers Local 207’s apprenticeship building in Boardman. (Photo by David Skolnick)

BOARDMAN — Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor, said she can work with those in both political parties but would not hesitate to veto legislation if needed.

During a Wednesday campaign stop at the Structural Iron Workers Local 207’s apprenticeship building, Acton said, “I know how to work with anybody who wants to solve a problem instead of make one. But we need to fix this Statehouse. I do believe we have a great chance of breaking the (Republican) supermajority that would allow a veto to stand.”

Acton, who served as the state’s health director during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, said, “I’ve been working with people on both sides of the aisle my entire career. I’m a doctor. I’ve not been partisan. I’m a lifelong public servant, and I’ve worked with both sides to solve wicked hard issues, and I’ll keep doing that. I’ve done it. I’ve got many things accomplished, even in this Statehouse.”

Acton pointed to the state’s opioid lawsuit settlement and the state’s Tobacco 21 law, which raised the age to purchase cigarettes and tobacco products from 18 to 21.

Acton said she believes next year “the state will, in a bipartisan way, end gerrymandering. What that will allow us to do, finally, is incentivize good public servants on both sides of the aisle to serve again the way we always have and have the good fight that we should have on the nuances of policy.”

Acton, a Youngstown native, said during her time campaigning for governor, “95% of what I’m hearing from people, no one would disagree on. It isn’t partisan, and none of those 95% of things that affect our everyday lives are what this Statehouse is working on, this corrupt and backwards Statehouse.”

Those priorities being ignored, Acton said, are housing affordability, childcare, funding public schools, lowering utility bills and mental health.

Acton said, “I’m running for governor because people are struggling, and I refuse to look the other way, and we aren’t going to look the other way in this election while bad actors and special interests take this state backwards on every single measure.”

She added that “95% don’t know party. The No. 1 thing they’re saying is they’re tired of the hate and the vitriol and the chaos and being purposely pitted against” each other.

Acton is facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the Nov. 3 general election.

Evan Machan, a Ramaswamy spokesperson, said Acton’s “bipartisan facade is a farce” as the “last time when our Legislature tried to reasonably work with Amy Acton on COVID, she quit, went into hiding and then tried to blame them for her own failures. Ohio trusted Amy Acton once, and we can’t afford to trust her again.”

Acton unveiled last month her ActOn affordability plan.

Her top priority is to obtain a tax cut for the state’s working families. That includes a refundable earned income credit for about 775,000 working families and a child tax credit of between $500 and $1,000 per child for families making up to $85,000 in annual income.

The two proposals would cost about $1 billion annually.

Asked where the money would come from, Acton said, “There’s no magic lever you can pull, but we’re going to pull a lot of levers,” and “I am simply prioritizing the things that Ohioans — everyday Ohioans — are asking for over, let’s just say, the priorities of the special interests. What is happening in the Statehouse is it’s no longer about Republicans or Democrats. It’s about extreme wealth, ideology and special interests being packaged as playbooks shoved through Statehouses where most people don’t even know who works there.”

Instead of further tax breaks for the wealthy, Acton said her budget will prioritize working families.

“Every single thing that we propose can be funded,” she said. “It’s just we aren’t going to eliminate income taxes, which would be reckless at this point.”

Machan said Acton’s supposed plan “reads like a bad joke on every level,” and “by contrast, Vivek has offered commonsense plans to reduce electric bills by producing more energy, reducing property taxes by rolling them back to levels before the end of COVID and lowering health care costs by crushing Medicaid fraud and allowing Ohioans to keep the savings.”

Also Wednesday, the Western Reserve Building Trades Council endorsed Acton for governor. The council has just under 10,000 members from 24 unions in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, as well as a small part of western Pennsylvania, said Marty Loney, its president.

Loney said, “Dr. Acton will lower costs, protect our labor brothers and sisters, and finally put working families ahead of billionaires and special interests. She is the clear choice to build a brighter future for Ohio.”

Western Reserve is the fourth regional construction union to break with the state chapter, Affiliated Construction Trades, which endorsed Ramaswamy.