President Donald Trump waded into the fiercest fight of Ohio's governor race on Thursday, strongly defending Vivek Ramaswamy's controversial campaign ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother — and rebuking Ohio's own Republican governor, Mike DeWine, for demanding that the ad be pulled.
"Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The Press, in a concerted and well coordinated attack, is trying to get Vivek Ramaswamy to 'take down the Ad.'"
"The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it's so good!" Trump wrote. "Who wouldn't use such an Ad? I would, it's called, 'hitting pay dirt.'"
Trump said DeWine wanted the ad taken down, but that he had urged the opposite: "I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up." He branded Acton "a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate," and argued: "Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office, let alone the Office of Governor." He closed by praising his endorsed candidate: "I know the real Vivek, he is a brilliant and outstanding person who will cut Taxes, stop Crime and, MAKE OHIO GREAT AGAIN. He will be a fantastic Governor!"
The one-minute ad, released on October 19 and backed by a $4 million statewide air buy, features Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, telling Ohioans her daughter has "lied her entire life." "Don't vote for people who lie," Arthur says in the spot. "Don't let her become your governor. If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse." The Ramaswamy campaign says Arthur was not paid to appear.
DeWine, who has endorsed Ramaswamy to succeed him, broke with the campaign at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday after his wife saw the ad on television that morning. "The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling," DeWine said. "It's wrong to run this ad. I would urge Ramaswamy's campaign to take this down." The governor, who worked with Acton daily when she served as his state health director during COVID, also defended her honesty: "My experience with her and working closely with her every single day was she certainly told the truth." DeWine made clear, however, that he is not rescinding his endorsement of Ramaswamy.
What the ad does not tell voters is why mother and daughter are estranged. Arthur lost custody of Acton and her younger brother in 1978, after Arthur's husband at the time — Acton's stepfather, Cledith Arthur — was arrested and charged with raping Acton when she was 12 years old. He fled after his arrest and remained a fugitive until his death in Pennsylvania in 2004. Acton says she has not seen or spoken to her mother in nearly 50 years, and court records from the time back up her account.
Acton called the ad "despicable," and wrote in response: "My birth mother did nothing to protect me. I've always known that she was deeply sick and unwell." She said the spot has "crossed everyone's boundaries." Her brother, Philip Stearns, also condemned the ad.
The backlash has split Republicans. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said: "This ad is going to go down as the most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season." Mace, who says she was once "a real big Vivek Ramaswamy fan," added: "The bar is low and somehow Vivek Ramaswamy somehow managed to limbo under the lowest bar of decency in this country. I am beside myself. I just can't believe that this is what passes for decency in this election." Sen. Jon Husted said he would not have run the ad, Secretary of State Frank LaRose also criticized it, and former Ohio House Speaker Ryan Smith and state development director Lydia Mihalik spoke out against it as well.
Vice President JD Vance, campaigning in Cincinnati on Wednesday, defended the ad and said he was "disgusted" by the Republicans criticizing it, praising Ramaswamy for having "the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is." The Ramaswamy campaign is standing its ground. "Governor DeWine is correct that the first and only candidate to attack the mother of her opponent in this race was Amy Acton," said campaign spokesperson Connie Luck.
DeWine is term-limited, and Ohio voters decide the race on November 3 — less than two weeks away. Recent polling has shown Acton, a physician who led Ohio's health department in the early pandemic, ahead of biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy: one major survey put her in front 50 to 42, another had her leading 49 to 45, and polling averages show Ramaswamy trailing by roughly four points despite Trump's complete and total endorsement and more than $36 million of his own money poured into the campaign.
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