Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist streamer who has spent years cultivating a following on the fringes of the conservative movement, posted an all-caps endorsement of Democrat Amy Acton for Ohio governor on X Thursday as in-person early voting continues across the state.
"Early voting has begun in Ohio. VOTE AMY ACTON FOR GOVERNOR," Fuentes wrote, directing his followers to the Democratic candidate without qualification. The post was first reported by Breitbart News.
The endorsement did not come out of nowhere. Fuentes first staked out his position in May, telling viewers he had become a reluctant Democrat voter. "We're gonna have to hold our noses and we're gonna have to vote Democrat," he said at the time, according to the Western Journal, which reported that Fuentes declared himself a "non-woke moderate Democrat" and called for President Donald Trump to be impeached.
Fuentes, who is from Illinois, has framed his opposition to Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy around the candidate's heritage. The 27-year-old commentator claimed Ramaswamy, who was born in Cincinnati to Indian immigrants, "cannot become the governor of Ohio," according to the New York Post.
The Ohio race is the only one Fuentes has said he cares about. "We have to deny Vivek Ramaswamy the governorship," Fuentes said during a livestream, Fox News reported, after Ramaswamy called him out by name at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest.
Ramaswamy won the Republican primary in May with Trump's "complete and total endorsement" and now faces Acton in a race that forecasters rate as competitive. A CNN poll released this week shows Acton leading Ramaswamy 50 percent to 42 percent among likely voters, though the race remains within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent. The same poll shows Democrat Sherrod Brown leading Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted 49 percent to 43 percent in the Senate race.
Acton served as Ohio's health director during the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing lockdown orders and school closures that made her a lightning rod for parents and small business owners across the state. Ohio has not elected a Democrat governor in roughly two decades.
The Fuentes endorsement puts Acton's campaign in an awkward position. She has not publicly responded to the post, and it is not yet known whether her campaign will accept or reject the support. Fuentes' backing is a liability for any candidate seeking mainstream support — his brand of white nationalism is toxic to the vast majority of voters, and his explicit racial framing of the Ramaswamy candidacy crosses lines that even the most partisan Democrats have historically avoided defending.
The timing is notable. Early in-person voting opened across Ohio on Tuesday, and Fuentes posted his endorsement two days later. Whether his followers in Ohio will actually turn out for a Democrat they likely disagree with on nearly every policy issue is an open question. His influence is concentrated among young men in online spaces, not among the Ohio voters who decide statewide elections.
What is clear is that Fuentes has now made his preference explicit. He wants Amy Acton to be the next governor of Ohio. He has told his audience to vote for her. And he has done so while using the same racial arguments that have disqualified him from conservative respectability for years.
The question now is whether Acton and her allies will do what every serious politician has done when Fuentes comes calling: repudiate him outright. So far, there is no indication they will.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what this is. Nick Fuentes is not a conservative. He is not a Republican. He is not part of the MAGA movement. He is a white nationalist provocateur who has spent his adult life trying to attach himself to real political movements so he can claim influence he has never earned.
Now he wants Amy Acton to be governor of Ohio. That tells you everything you need to know about the man's judgment — and it tells you something about Acton's coalition, too.
For months, Democrats and their media allies have tried to tie every Republican in America to Fuentes. They've run the guilt-by-association play so many times it has become a punchline. But here is the actual news: when given the chance to support a Republican who has been endorsed by President Trump and who won a competitive primary, Fuentes chose the Democrat. The Democrat who locked down Ohio, who closed schools, who told Ohioans they couldn't run their own businesses. That's the candidate he wants.
We've said it before and we'll say it again: Fuentes is a poison pill. The question is whether Acton and the Ohio Democratic Party will swallow it or spit it out. If they stay silent — if they let this endorsement stand without a word — they are accepting the support of a man who believes people should be excluded from public office based on their heritage. That is not a fringe debate. That is a direct attack on the Constitution and on every American who believes in the promise of this country.
Patriots in Ohio know the difference between real conservatism and the kind of racial grievance politics Fuentes peddles. They know that Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants who built a successful business, who has fought for America First policies, and who has President Trump's endorsement, is on the right side of that line. And they know that Amy Acton — who was happy to shut down their churches, their businesses, and their schools — is on the wrong side of it, no matter who is telling them to vote for her.
Early voting is happening now. The choice is clear. Ohio can reject the Fuentes endorsement and everything it represents by voting for Vivek Ramaswamy. Or it can send a message that the Democrats' tent is big enough to include white nationalists who want to tear this country apart.
Which will it be, Ohio?
