Democrat Amy Acton ditched a campaign event with left-wing activist Randi Weingarten over the weekend, the event’s host claiming Acton couldn’t be there because she “lost her voice.” Randi Weingarten came to Ohio for a meet-and-greet supporting Acton, who is running against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to succeed outgoing Gov. Mike DeWine (R). 

Acton served as Ohio’s Department of Health Director and “COVID Czar” in early 2020, during which the state was the first in the nation to close all public schools. Weingarten, the longtime leader of the American Federation of Teachers, backed keeping public schools closed for years and prioritized keeping teachers out of the classroom despite evidence that the policy was harmful for students.

Under Acton’s leadership and actions, Ohio public schools suffered drastically. Students in urban areas experienced higher rates of chronic absenteeism than their peers, and a February 2021 report showed test scores were dramatically lower than in past years. 

“Across most grades, English language arts proficiency rates generally decreased by about eight percentage points and math proficiency rates decreased by approximately 15 percentage points,” a report from state’s education department stated, with third-grade students demonstrating roughly 20 percent less learning on average between November 2020 and April 2021 compared to students in prior years.

Acton resigned from her post as Ohio’s Department of Health Director, claiming “the demands of the job were too great.” 

Now running for governor, she has enlisted Weingarten’s help on her campaign. 

“You all know Amy better than I know Amy… I love her, I think she’s fantastic,” said Weingarten in audio obtained by Breitbart News from the event. “The courage that she had to try to navigate through COVID, the understanding about how important public education is, as a way of creating pluralism in this country… she feels and understands and she knows it. She lived it.” 

Weingarten ended her remarks praising a “No Kings” event the day before and said her union has put “a lot of staff on the ground” to help elect Acton. 

Following the event in Ohio on Sunday, Weingarten is scheduled to campaign in Michigan with Democrat candidate for governor Jocelyn Benson on Tuesday. 

Follow Matt Mercer on X: @mattmercer.