Olivia Rodrigo handed Ohio Democrat Amy Acton a bouquet days before the governor’s election, and one critic had a prescription for the singer herself. “She should take her medication,” the X user wrote. The punch line was on the bottle in the attached photo. Beside a picture of President Donald Trump pointing at the viewer was a mock prescription labeled “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Rodrigo gave Acton her endorsement over two nights at the Schottenstein Center on Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus. During her encore on Thursday, October 29th, the former Disney actress wore a shirt reading “Dr. Amy Acton for Governor.” On Friday, October 30th, she walked into the audience during a performance of “stupid song” and presented the Democratic nominee with pink flowers.
The title of “Dr.” on Rodrigo’s shirt figured in a nickname Ohio Republicans had used for months to criticize Acton’s record. As state health director under Republican Governor Mike DeWine, Acton signed pandemic orders closing K–12 schools and prohibiting mass gatherings. Her signature also appeared on the order that shut polling places across Ohio just hours before voters were due to cast ballots in the 2020 presidential primary.
The Ohio Republican Party had its own name for the candidate, calling her “Dr. Lockdown.” Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy made the polling-place order the subject of a campaign ad released in April. “Nobody ever cast a vote for Amy Acton, but she stopped yours,” the ad said. DeWine, who endorsed Ramaswamy, said he made the decision to close the polls and directed Acton to sign the order, as Ohio’s Statehouse News Bureau reported.
Acton’s order closed polling places on March 17th, the day Ohioans expected to vote in person. Secretary of State Frank LaRose initially extended mail-in voting until June 2nd, but lawmakers moved the deadline up to April 28th. Republican Matt Huffman, then a state senator, described the practical consequence on the Senate floor. In his words, “a lot of people didn’t get to vote who expected to vote.”
On October 31st, the Daily Mail US account shared its story about the endorsement on X with a photo of Rodrigo holding a microphone beside the flowers. Its headline called her “Trump-hating” and recalled her attack on the administration over an immigration enforcement video. The account mocking Rodrigo replied directly beneath it. The mock label bore a red “Rx” and described the supposed condition as a person’s hatred for Trump leading them to abandon “all logic and reason in a paranoid frenzy.”
See the October 30th post from Defiant L’s here:
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https://t.co/kLAxtg7nYi
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) October 30, 2026
Rodrigo’s dispute over the use of her music began in November 2025, when the White House and the Department of Homeland Security used her song “all-american b-tch” in an Instagram video promoting self-deportation. The clip showed immigration officers making arrests as well as people leaving the country voluntarily. Rodrigo took her complaint directly to the post’s comment section, accusing the administration of using her music to promote “racist, hateful propaganda,” as TMZ reported.
Rodrigo was still taking shots at the administration months later. In a September interview with NPR’s Leila Fadel, she called the footage “grotesque” and suggested that “picking fights with pop stars is a great distraction.” When Rodrigo first went after the department, a DHS spokesperson told TMZ what the singer ought to say to the officers in the video. “We suggest Ms. Rodrigo thank them for their service, not belittle their sacrifice.”
Featured image credit: screenshot of the embedded video.