The crowd inside the Mahoning County Democratic Party tent at the Canfield Fair was thick with the kind of easy, late-summer energy county fairs run on — funnel cake, handshakes, a candidate working the room. Then a man pushed through it, shoulder-first, knocking two people to the ground as he moved toward the woman at the center of it all.
That woman was Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor and the physician who became a household name during the state's early pandemic response. On Sunday afternoon, she became something else too: the target of an incident state troopers are still sorting through, one that ended with an armed man in handcuffs and several fairgoers hurt.
A Rush Through the Crowd
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the man — identified as 38-year-old Patrick Havas — had been recording cellphone video of Acton before he shoved his way toward her around 2:30 p.m., knocking multiple people down in the process. Acton's security detail, which included state troopers assigned to the campaign, moved in and Canfield police made the arrest.
Investigators say Havas was carrying a taser and two pistols, and that a search after his arrest turned up two handguns and a set of brass knuckles. Crucially, officials were careful to note what didn't happen: no weapon was ever drawn or removed from its holster during the confrontation.
No weapons were ever brandished or even removed from their holsters.
Ohio State Highway Patrol
The Doctor Stayed
Acton herself was not hurt. What she did next says something about the person Ohioans have watched since 2020: rather than being rushed away, she stayed on site to help tend to one of the people injured in the crush, according to her campaign.
Havas was taken into custody and is being held at the Mahoning County Jail, facing two counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of disorderly conduct — charges that, for now, reflect the chaos of the crowd rather than any weapon being used.
A Campaign Already Under a Microscope
Acton, Ohio's former public health director, is in a closely watched race against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for the governor's office. The incident drew swift condemnation across the aisle — Ohio's Republican Attorney General Andy Wilson and GOP Sen. Jon Husted both denounced what Wilson called "unacceptable" attempted violence directed at a candidate.
The Canfield Fair, a century-old Mahoning Valley institution, has hosted candidates from both parties for decades without incident of this kind. Sunday's scene — troopers moving through a packed tent, a physician-turned-candidate refusing to leave an injured stranger's side — is now part of a governor's race that was already drawing national attention.
IF Daily will continue following developments as the Mahoning County prosecutor's office reviews the case.
