An armed assailant attacked Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair on Sunday, injuring several people, campaign officials said. Acton was unharmed, according to spokesperson Addie Bullock.

The suspect, Patrick Havas, 38, was arrested with multiple weapons after knocking volunteers to the ground, said Chris Anderson, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party. The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported recovering two pistols and a Taser, while local police also found a set of brass knuckles. Havas was booked on charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of assault.

Sheriff Jerry Greene told local NBC affiliate 21 News that two older adults were knocked down during the incident. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican who is term-limited, condemned the attack and praised the quick response of police at the Democratic booth.

Acton's Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, called the attack “completely unacceptable.” Ramaswamy, who has leveraged national name recognition and ties to the tech industry and former President Donald Trump, has raised record funds and spent heavily on ads criticizing Acton.

The attack is the latest in a string of political violence incidents in the US, which has seen a rise over the past decade. In 2025, Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated, and in 2022, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was assaulted. Trump himself was the target of two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign, and an armed man tried to breach security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year.

The Ohio gubernatorial race is one of the most closely watched in the midterm elections, with campaigns entering the final six weeks before the November 3 vote. Federal political committees spent over $40 million on security during the 2023–2024 cycle, according to the Public Service Alliance.

Source: www.aljazeera.com