Wealthy biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has won the Ohio Republican primary for governor, according to a race call by The Associated Press.

He took an aggressive but traditional route to securing the nomination. On President Trump’s inauguration day, Ramaswamy announced he was leaving the president’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency. That evening, Trump threw his support behind Ramaswamy with what he called his “complete and total endorsement.”

Tuesday, Ramaswamy won with a comfortable margin over Casey Putsch, a northwest Ohio car designer and racing team owner new to politics who attacked Ramaswamy for his South Asian heritage.

Democrat Dr. Amy Acton will face Ramaswamy in the general election. In red Ohio, where a Democrat hasn’t been elected governor in 20 years, the race looks competitive. The Cook Political Report, which tracks elections, shifted the race from one Republicans were likely to win, to one that just leans in Ramaswamy’s favor. But the Republican has vast financial resources of his own and has raised an enormous amount of money.

Acton is the former state health director, appointed to the position in 2019 by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. She played a major role in Ohio’s response to the COVID pandemic, signing orders from DeWine that restricted in-person gatherings, shut non-essential businesses, and closed K-12 schools. Republicans have called her “Dr. Lockdown” and have used her pandemic response to campaign against her. DeWine has defended Acton’s work as health director, even though he’s endorsed Ramaswamy, and has said pandemic-related decisions “were made by the governor”.

Her campaign has focused on the high cost of living, an issue that has left voters disgruntled with Republicans. She’s called for child tax credits, reducing prescription drug costs, lowering utility costs and helping Ohioans stay on Medicaid, among other things.

When Ramaswamy launched his campaign in February last year, he said he wanted to see property taxes eliminated. He’s backed off that proposal, and now talks about instituting “the largest rollback of property taxes in the history of Ohio.” He’s also raised fears with a proposal to consolidate or close public universities in the state.

The man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades fire in Los Angeles was upset over a failed relationship and his lack of plans for New Year’s Eve – and he ranted about being angry at the world before the initial blaze was ignited, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, has pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. It began on 7 January 2025 in the hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu and killed 12 people. Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on 1 January that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later.

Rinderknecht’s trial will begin on 8 June. His attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles fire department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.

An outline of the prosecutors’ strategy – with details about the defendant’s alleged state of mind on the night before the first fire began – appears in a 29 April pre-trial memo filed by the US attorney’s office.

Witnesses reported that Rinderknecht had been driving erratically while on Uber routes around the Palisades on New Year’s Eve, said prosecutors. His passengers described him as “angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world,’” the memo said, echoing a criminal complaint against Rinderknecht that had previously been filed.

According to court filings, Rinderknecht ranted to passengers about Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson; capitalism; and vigilantism. In an interview with investigators on 24 January, when asked why someone might commit arson in the Palisades, Rinderknecht “responded that it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them,’” and again referenced Mangione’s alleged crime, the documents said.

Prosecutors additionally said Rinderknecht was distraught over a failed relationship and upset about thwarted plans for New Year’s Eve.

In an email responding to those allegations, Rinderknecht’s attorney Steve Haney said: “My client maintains his innocence as he has from the beginning, and we look forward to clearing his name at trial.

“The offered motive that my client started a fire on [New Year’s] Eve because he did not have date speaks for itself.”

Haney held a news conference in March to call for Rinderknecht’s release from jail in light of evidence he said shows he is not responsible for the blaze. Haney pointed to a deposition in which a firefighter testified that he noticed the ground was still smoldering from the fire on 2 January 2025 and alerted supervisors that there were hotspots. That testimony was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.

A battalion chief had testified that he walked the perimeter of the burn area four times throughout the day and ensured all hotspots were out.

Jaime Moore, the fire department chief who was appointed in October, has said he is concerned about the differences in the firefighters’ testimonies and commissioned an independent report on how the 1 January 2025 fire was handled.

Haney has said this evidence was not available to the defense when Rinderknecht was indicted.