COLUMBUS, OHIO (VINnews) — The New York Times on Monday described Ohio’s governor’s race as possibly the ugliest high-profile campaign in the country, as Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton trade increasingly personal attacks with four weeks left before Election Day.

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The Times said the candidates differ sharply on policy, but that the advertising has turned strikingly personal, with exaggerated portrayals of one contender as a con artist and the other as a drunk. The prediction-market firm Polymarket amplified the characterization Monday, pointing readers to its live market on the Nov. 3 contest.

Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, won the May 5 Republican primary and is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine. Acton, a physician who served as DeWine’s health director during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, is the Democratic nominee. Libertarian Don Kissick is also on the ballot.

Ohio has not elected a Democratic governor since Ted Strickland in 2006. The Cook Political Report rates the open seat a toss-up.

Recent surveys have shown Acton ahead, though the margins vary. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Oct. 4 found Acton leading Ramaswamy 49% to 45% among likely voters. A Suffolk University/USA TODAY Network Ohio poll of 500 likely voters, conducted Sept. 23–27, put Acton at 50.4% and Ramaswamy at 41.4%, with Kissick at 2.8%. That survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, and other polls this summer have shown a tighter race.

On Polymarket, contracts priced Acton at about 67% and Ramaswamy at about 33.5% early Monday, according to market trackers. Those figures reflect traders’ bets, not a poll, and can move with new surveys and campaign news.

The tone of the race has been a campaign issue for weeks. Acton’s campaign declined a debate challenge in early September, saying she would not share a stage with a candidate it accused of running false personal attacks, including ads about her family and her record. Ramaswamy answered that she was avoiding voter questions and was unfit to lead a state of 12 million people, according to The Blade of Toledo.

Wealth has been another flashpoint. A Sept. 29 Times report said campaign finance filings show Ramaswamy has spent at least $689,000 leasing private jets since he entered the race, while Acton has campaigned in a 2018 Jeep Wrangler built in Toledo. Democrats have cast him as out of touch. Ramaswamy has treated his business record as a credential and has argued Ohio needs that kind of ambition.

For Jewish readers, the contest carries an additional marker. Acton, who is Jewish and has spoken publicly about her faith, would be the first Jewish person elected governor of Ohio, and the first woman elected to the office, if she wins. She told the Columbus Jewish News last year that the milestone would be an honor, but that she intended to govern for people of every background. Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants and a practicing Hindu, would be the state’s first Indian American and Hindu governor.

The general election is Nov. 3.