Candidate for Lt. Governor visits Zanesville to discuss healthcare programs

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Amy Acton’s running mate in the governor’s race, David Pepper, visited Zanesville on Wednesday to talk about healthcare.

Pepper spoke at the Muskingum County Democrats’ headquarters to discuss the importance of Medicare and Medicaid to everyday Ohioans. More than 3 million people in the state rely on Medicaid and around 2.5 million rely on Medicare.

“It’s a huge part of the budget and so to have someone who believes that Medicaid and Medicare are mistakes, as he said, it’s a very important piece of information to know as we vote. But, I would say it’s a very dangerous thing to have someone running for governor who would say such a thing,” Pepper said.

These remarks are in response to statements Vivek Ramaswamy made in a resurfaced episode of the Ezra Klein Show from October, 2025.

“Were Medicare and Medicaid mistakes?” asked Ezra Klein, on the show produced by the New York Times.

“I believe they were with the benefit of retrospect. Particularly Medicaid, particularly welfare state without work attachments required, attached to it,” Ramaswamy said.

During Pepper’s stop in Zanesville, he discussed why these comments needed to be addressed and why he did so in Muskingum County.

“To have someone who’s coming around saying Medicaid and Medicare are a mistake, I mean that would do damage everywhere,” Pepper said. “But, a lot of rural communities would feel the price of that more than anywhere else so we want to make sure we’re not just, you know, where Democrats always are but we’re also out all over the state explaining the danger of someone who’s literally saying something as extreme as that Medicaid and Medicare are mistakes. ”

WHIZ emailed Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment. Spokesperson Connie Luck responded with the following statement.

“Medicaid is a vital program that millions of Ohioans rely on, and it must work better for the people it serves and for taxpayers who fund it. Vivek believes Ohioans deserve a Medicaid system that delivers stronger results than what we have seen over the past six decades, including basic work requirements for those who are able. That position is not extreme, it’s common sense. The attacks from Amy Acton, based on a cherry-picked 30 seconds from an 80-minute interview, are blatantly dishonest, but sadly typical of politics practiced by a government insider who is desperate to preserve the status quo,” Luck wrote.