Ohio Republicans can't pass GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's gas tax suspension plan on their own, and now find themselves needing Democratic votes to push it through before the election, an unusual bit of leverage for the minority party.
According to News 5 Cleveland, Ramaswamy is working with Senate President Rob McColley and House Speaker Matt Huffman to pass a bill pausing Ohio's motor fuel tax, currently 38.5 cents per gallon on gasoline and 47 cents on diesel, for 90 days. Republicans want the measure to take effect immediately rather than after the standard waiting period, a fast-track option available only with a two-thirds majority vote, meaning at least a couple of House Democrats would have to break ranks and join them.
Ramaswamy insisted at a Wednesday press conference the plan is more than campaign talk: "This isn't a campaign promise. This is action."
But House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn wasn't impressed, noting Republicans hadn't bothered reaching out to Democrats before going public with the plan. "Does anyone still believe anything this guy says? He has not called me. He has not included Democrats in this process at all," Isaacsohn said.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio said Ramaswamy's Democratic opponent Amy Acton actually floated the gas tax suspension idea first, and indicated she'd likely support it herself as long as road infrastructure funding stays protected. Still, Antonio raised concerns about how directly Ramaswamy's campaign appears to be steering state legislative business, a dynamic she said even seems to be sidelining Gov. Mike DeWine's usual influence over policy.
"This really smacks in the face of bringing, in a way that I've never seen before, a political campaign actually into the chamber of the Ohio legislature," Antonio said, adding plainly that she doesn't think the arrangement is appropriate.
Funding the suspension is already murky. Republicans initially said they'd cover the lost revenue by tapping into the Ohio Department of Transportation's ending cash balance, but state Office of Budget Management official Pete LuPiba said afterward that the fund's roughly $1.6 billion balance is already earmarked for $5 billion in open contracts and has nothing to spare.
Ramaswamy has framed the suspension as urgent relief for truckers and farmers dealing with diesel costs, even though farmers are already exempt from the fuel tax. He's declined to use his relationship with President Donald Trump to personally push for an end to the Iran war driving up prices in the first place, saying only that all Americans likely want the conflict to end. DeWine, who has historically opposed suspending the gas tax, says he still wants more details on how Republicans plan to actually pay for it.
