Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says campaign has stopped airing controversial attack ad
Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign ceased broadcasting a TV spot that targeted the mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton, amid criticism from both parties.
Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy told reporters in Vandalia that his campaign has stopped airing a television advertisement that featured the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton. "It ran to completion and we put up four other ads," Ramaswamy said, adding that he hopes the final stretch of the race will focus on policy rather than "30-second ads." The ad, which the campaign had spent $4 million to broadcast, drew criticism after court records revealed that Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, had called her daughter a liar and fled the state with her husband when the daughter accused him of rape.
The controversy resurfaced when former Ohio health director Acton’s mother was quoted in a 2020 interview with the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, acknowledging prior accusations against her husband for sexual abuse of his own daughter. Ramaswamy’s campaign edited the original 60-second spot to remove references to a claim that the family had lived in a tent during the mother’s childhood, though court documents confirm the husband had indeed lived in a tent at the time of his arrest.
President Donald Trump defended the advertisement at a rally with Ramaswamy, refusing to address the relevance of the child-rape allegation to the mother’s credibility. Reporting cited NBC News and Zeteo indicating that Arthur has faced mental-health challenges and was found living in her car with numerous cats, a detail that reportedly concerned some involved in producing the ad.
Acton’s campaign responded with its own television spot, accusing Ramaswamy of exploiting her childhood trauma for political gain. At a separate event, Acton told supporters, "My opponent has now chosen to exploit my childhood intentionally… It’s not going to work."