Ohio GOP bus tour shifts three venues ahead of Tuesday vote

With less than a week remaining until the November 3 election, the Republican statewide ticket in Ohio has altered its ground game.

The party moved at least three scheduled stops on its red bus tour, according to an original itinerary. Those changes included shifting an event from Old Dog Alehouse & Brewery in Delaware and another from Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville to different locations.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, leads the tour alongside incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. On Tuesday morning, the group held a stop at a Vance Outdoors hunting store in Hebron. Approximately 100 voters gathered inside the shop, where a large American flag hung beneath taxidermy.

Ramaswamy was joined by his running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, and candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. The group included Keith Faber, Robert Sprague, Dan Hawkins, and Colleen O'Donnell.

Addressing the crowd, Ramaswamy said the coming week would determine the state's future. He argued that the election comes down to one question: who will restore the American Dream to reality in Ohio.

The Hebron stop replaced a planned event at Elliot’s Wood Fired Kitchen in Licking County. Spokespeople for the Ohio GOP and Ramaswamy declined to comment on the venue swaps when asked. Ramaswamy left for his next stop in Mt. Vernon without taking questions from journalists.

The schedule changes coincide with scrutiny over a campaign advertisement featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the ad, Arthur, who lost custody of Acton in 1978, calls the Democratic nominee a liar. While President Donald Trump and Ramaswamy have supported the ad, some GOP colleagues, including Husted, have distanced themselves from it. The governor's race concludes Tuesday, marking the first change in statewide leadership in eight years.