DeWine demands Ramaswamy pull $4 million attack on Acton, defends her honesty — but keeps endorsement

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday demanded that Vivek Ramaswamy withdraw his $4 million attack advertisement featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother, calling the commercial deeply troubling and defending the Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s honesty based on their years working together.

But DeWine stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee seeking to succeed him as governor.

Speaking to reporters at the Ohio Statehouse on October 22, DeWine condemned the campaign’s decision to feature Donna Arthur, Acton’s biological mother, who supported her husband after he was charged with raping Acton when she was 12 years old.

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said, according to the Ohio Public Media Statehouse News Bureau. “I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to to take this down. It’s just wrong.”

DeWine said the advertisement became even more disturbing when considered alongside the documented history of Acton’s childhood sexual abuse and her mother’s decision to leave town with the accused man.

He also directly challenged the attack’s central message that Acton is dishonest.

“In regard to telling the truth, my experience with her and working closely with her every single day was that she certainly told the truth; that’s my experience,” DeWine told News 5 Cleveland reporter Morgan Trau.

Acton served as DeWine’s health director from February 2019 until June 2020, becoming one of the most recognizable figures in Ohio’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DeWine condemns ad but stands by Ramaswamy

DeWine’s intervention creates a direct disagreement between Ohio’s sitting Republican governor and the candidate he endorsed to replace him. Ramaswamy acknowledged Tuesday that his campaign produced the advertisement and is spending $4 million to distribute it statewide.

The governor described the attack as especially troubling given his own experience working with sexual assault survivors during his years as a prosecutor and Ohio attorney general.

DeWine recalled meeting women who had endured rape and subsequently testified in court, describing the lasting trauma they carried.

He also pointed to the criminal proceedings involving Acton’s stepfather and the mother’s decision to leave with him rather than remain with her children.

“When you know the rest of the story,” DeWine said, the circumstances make the advertisement “just more wrong.”

Yet when reporters pressed him on whether his condemnation would change his political support, DeWine refused.

“I’m not changing the endorsement. I endorse the whole ticket,” he said.

When asked how he reconciled that endorsement with his condemnation of Ramaswamy’s actions, DeWine emphasized his loyalty to the Republican ticket, saying it included experienced public servants with whom he had worked for years.

He also declined to say whether he had spoken privately with Ramaswamy or Acton about the advertisement.

DeWine previously contradicted another Ramaswamy attack on Acton

Thursday’s condemnation is not the first time DeWine has publicly challenged an attack against Acton from the Republican candidate he endorsed.

As TiffinOhio.net reported in April, DeWine disputed a Ramaswamy-McColley campaign advertisement accusing Acton of unilaterally shutting down Ohio’s March 2020 primary election.

The advertisement accused Acton of defying a judge and abusing her authority by closing polling places during the pandemic. DeWine said that characterization was inaccurate because he personally directed Acton to issue the health order.

“I told her to issue the health order. The decision was mine,” DeWine told NBC4 at the time.

DeWine has also repeatedly defended Acton’s actions during the pandemic, maintaining that the major decisions made by his administration were his responsibility as governor.

Now, six months later, he is once again publicly contradicting an attack from Ramaswamy’s political operation. This time, he is demanding that the campaign stop running it altogether.

Ramaswamy campaign refuses to back down

The advertisement features Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood, including claims that she experienced homelessness and lived in a tent.

What the commercial does not disclose is the history behind their nearly five-decade estrangement.

Police and court records obtained by the Associated Press confirm that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested in 1978 and indicted on a charge of raping Acton when she was 12. He pleaded not guilty but subsequently failed to appear in court and remained a fugitive for years. The available records do not establish a conviction.

Donna Arthur supported her husband during the proceedings and remained married to him until his death in 2004. Acton and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody, and Acton has said she has not seen her mother since childhood.

TiffinOhio.net previously reported on the family’s history and her brother Philip Stearns’ condemnation of the attack.

Despite the criticism from DeWine, Ramaswamy’s campaign continued defending the commercial Thursday.

In a statement to CBS News, campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck argued that Arthur’s accusations concerned Acton’s honesty rather than the abuse she experienced.

“Acton’s mother is speaking out about her clear pattern of lying — not abuse,” Luck said.

The campaign has not announced plans to withdraw the advertisement.

Vance tells Republican critics to ‘stop whining’

DeWine’s position stands in sharp contrast to Vice President JD Vance, who defended Ramaswamy against Republican critics during a campaign appearance in Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Vance told reporters he was disgusted by Republicans complaining about the commercial and urged them to focus on winning the election.

“Stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days,” Vance said.

Other prominent Ohio Republicans have also distanced themselves from the attack. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, whom DeWine appointed to the Senate in 2025, told the Associated Press he would not have run it. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose expressed the same position.

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley condemned Ramaswamy personally, while former Republican congressman Jim Renacci warned that Republicans who refused to distance themselves from the advertisement could suffer politically.

The public disagreement has divided Republican leaders in the final days of an increasingly competitive governor’s race. Ramaswamy’s campaign is committing millions to the advertisement despite opposition from DeWine, Husted and other members of the party’s establishment.

DeWine’s position leaves that division unresolved. He says the advertisement is wrong, confirms that Acton was truthful in his experience working with her and wants Ramaswamy to stop running it. But with early voting already underway ahead of the November 3 election, the governor is continuing to support the candidate responsible for producing it.