By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
From being the “scrappy kid from Youngstown” to the first woman elected governor of Ohio, Dr. Amy Acton has taken her local influence into the governor’s office.
Born and raised in Youngstown, Acton was a 1984 graduate of Liberty High School, where she held a campaign rally Oct. 27. Graduating high school alongside Acton was Elaine Jacobs, former assistant athletic director for Youngstown State University from 2000 to 2020.
Both Acton and Jacobs attended YSU, where Acton completed two years before transferring to Northeast Ohio Medical University.
Jacobs said she feels Acton will lead with Ohio’s best interests.
“I’ve known Amy since she was in junior high school,” Jacobs said. “She is a person with integrity. She’s courageous, she’s funny and absolutely has nothing but the best interest of others at heart.”
Jacobs said while she feels she is politically moderate, Acton’s victory was necessary to end issues such as gerrymandering.
“I’m a very moderate person, but this truly needs to be a blue wave,” Jacobs said. “The House [of Representatives] and the Senate, have this supermajority, and if she does not get help, if she does not get more Democrats in the house and the Senate, she’s gonna be limited on what she can do. If she is able to at least get the supermajority out of the way, where she can veto legislation, I know she truly wants to address the gerrymandering that has gone on.”
Regarding YSU, Jacobs said she feels Acton’s stance on university education outweighed that of Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican gubernatorial candidate, who had considered consolidating universities had he been elected.
“[Acton’s] opponent came forward and started talking about consolidations and things like that, so she definitely believes in institutions in the state, and not just four-year colleges, but community college, because everybody has different avenues of how they’re gonna approach education,” Jacobs said.
