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An Armed Man Rushed Ohio Governor Candidate Amy Acton at a Fair. Her Opponent Called It Unacceptable Within Hours

Amy Acton was mid-speech in a campaign tent at the Canfield Fair on Sunday when a man carrying two pistols and a set of brass knuckles shoved his way toward her, knocking bystanders to the ground before troopers stepped in. Acton wasn't hurt. What happened next says almost as much about this moment in American politics as the attack itself: her Republican rival was one of the first people to call it unacceptable.

By Gustavo Henrique · About the author

CANFIELD, OHIO · SEP 6-7 ~6 MIN READ

Updated on September 8, 2026 · Editorial update: source review, context and clarity.

It was around 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Canfield Fair, a sprawling annual event in Mahoning County near Youngstown, and Dr. Amy Acton — Ohio's Democratic nominee for governor and the state's former public health director — was speaking to supporters inside the Mahoning County Democratic Party's tent. According to a statement from the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office, a man later identified as 38-year-old Patrick Havas of Canfield approached with a cellphone held up as if recording, then began aggressively shoving his way through the crowd toward her. Two people, including at least one on a mobility scooter, were knocked to the ground in the process. Acton's security detail, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers assigned to protect her, moved in and took Havas into custody before he reached her.

The Essentials

Amy Acton was mid-speech in a campaign tent at the Canfield Fair on Sunday when a man carrying two pistols and a set of brass knuckles shoved his way toward her, knocking bystanders to the ground before troopers stepped in.
Acton wasn't hurt.
What happened next says almost as much about this moment in American politics as the attack itself: her Republican rival was one of the first people to call it unacceptable.

What he was carrying, and what he didn't do with it

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene told reporters that Havas was found with two handguns and a set of brass knuckles, all of which are legal to carry openly in Ohio. Investigators were direct on one point: no weapon was ever drawn or removed from its holster during the incident. Havas was booked into the county jail on two counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct, and authorities said no further details would be released while the investigation continues. Acton herself was not injured. According to a photo shared with NBC News by someone at the scene, she stayed on-site afterward to help attend to one of the people who'd been knocked down.

A race that was already close, and already tense

Acton is running to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in a race that has drawn national attention, facing Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, who has leaned on his national profile, tech-industry connections, and an alliance with President Trump to build a record campaign war chest for the fall. Sunday's incident landed in the middle of that contest, and the reaction crossed party lines almost immediately. Republican Sen. Jon Husted said he and his wife were disturbed by the attack and thanked law enforcement for its quick response. Gov. DeWine said a person "tried to forcefully push himself" toward Acton and called political violence or the threat of it always unacceptable. Ramaswamy himself, Acton's own opponent, said candidates should be able to meet with voters without fearing threats or violence.

Violence or the threat of violence at political or public events is always unacceptable.— Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, on the incident at the Canfield Fair

Not an isolated data point

Sunday's incident is the latest entry in what several outlets covering it independently described as a rise in political violence directed at candidates and public officials in the United States over the past decade. It didn't rise to the level of the country's worst episodes of political violence in recent years, and Acton walked away physically unharmed. But the fact that her opponent's campaign, her own party's rivals in the Statehouse, and the sitting governor all reached for the same word — unacceptable — within hours of the attack is itself part of the story: whatever else divides Ohio's candidates this fall, nobody involved wanted to be seen treating an armed man rushing a candidate's stage as a partisan talking point.

This account draws on reporting from CBS News, NBC News, WOSU Public Media, The Washington Post, and IBTimes UK.

Editorial Analysis — Gustavo Henrique

The detail I keep sitting with isn't the weapons — legally carried, never drawn, arguably beside the point of what actually happened. It's how fast and how uniformly everyone involved, across party lines, reached for the exact same word to describe it. That kind of instant, boring, bipartisan agreement almost never makes news on its own, and normally I wouldn't flag it as the headline. But given how much of this year's political coverage has been about how little the two sides of an issue agree on, it felt worth pointing out that when an armed man actually rushes a candidate's stage, nobody on either side reached for a caveat. That's a low bar. It's still a bar, and it got cleared.

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Our newsroom wrote and fact-checked this article independently. For a full breakdown of how we verify claims and separate fact from opinion, see our editorial methodology.