Republicans accuse Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton of posting an AI video of Vivek Ramaswamy suggesting year-round school for kids

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton posted a clip from a video of Vivek Ramaswamy, that Republicans claimed was AI-generated. According to The Daily Beast, a video titled "Here's how Republicans win in 2026" was posted on Monday by Ramaswamy, only to be deleted later. Instead, a new version of the video was uploaded.

For the unversed, the new version did not include the portion where Ramaswamy made the year-round school proposal. While the original video was removed from all platforms, his Threads account still had it there. After Acton posted a portion of the clip on X on Monday, Republicans immediately claimed that she posted an AI-generated one only to smear Ramaswamy's reputation. 

MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec tweeted,

"Dr. Lockdown falling for AI videos the same way she fell for Covid doomerism."

Gabe Guidarini, chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, also took to the platform and wrote, 

"If you're a candidate and you share AI-altered videos of another candidate and pass it off as reality, you should be fined a lot of money."

While Republicans made the allegations against Amy Acton, a lot of netizens took to X and claimed that the video was, in fact, real and the original could still be found on TikTok. 

Philip Stein, Amy Acton's campaign manager, reacted to the allegations of posting an AI video of Vivek Ramaswamy

The Daily Beast shared a statement that was issued by Amy Acton's campaign manager, Philip Stein. Stein addressed the controversy that Acton is currently facing, where Republicans accused her of posting an AI-generated video of Vivek Ramaswamy. In his statement, Stein said,

"Blowing a massive hole in public school budgets by forcing teachers and students into year-round school is yet another example of how out of touch Vivek Ramaswamy is with Ohioans."

Stein additionally stated,

"No wonder his own supporters think his videos are AI."

As per reports by the outlet, Vivek Ramaswamy is yet to issue an official statement addressing the situation. Reports further suggested that it is unclear as to why he removed the original video in the first place. It is to be noted that Ramaswamy had not promoted the idea of year-round school before the video went viral on Monday. On his campaign website, the candidate wrote,

"I want Ohio... to become the leading state in the country for kids to get a world-class education, starting from a young age, where they excel in math, reading, writing, and critical thinking."

Some of the factors that Ramaswamy had talked about were permitting individual school choice, incorporating AI into the classroom, and focusing on literacy. Earlier this month, many Republican supporters claimed that they did not want Vivek Ramaswamy to win the elections next year.

This sentiment reportedly surfaced shortly around the time that Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral elections in New York City. Many even believed that the race was not just about Republicans vs. Democrats at the moment. The 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election is set to take place on November 3, 2026.