Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed Tuesday that it produced a controversial attack ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother and is spending $4 million to promote it statewide, doubling down despite condemnation from prominent Republicans and newly reported court records corroborating the criminal case involving Acton’s childhood sexual abuse.
The campaign acknowledged producing the video after it circulated online without identifying its sponsor. According to Axios, sources close to Ramaswamy said the commercial performed well in internal testing among persuadable voters, prompting a statewide advertising campaign that began Tuesday night. Ohio’s Statehouse News Bureau separately confirmed the $4 million digital buy.
Ramaswamy campaign manager Jonathan Ewing defended the decision, telling Axios: “This is a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton. The people who know her best keep warning Ohioans about her.”
The campaign also confirmed that Acton’s mother was not paid to appear in the advertisement.
Attack features mother who defended Acton’s accused abuser
The minute-long commercial features Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged biological mother, accusing her daughter of fabricating details about her childhood, including having lived in a tent. Arthur repeatedly calls Acton a liar, suggests she needs help and urges Ohioans not to elect her governor.
Absent from the video is the history behind their nearly five-decade estrangement. Acton has publicly described being sexually abused as a child by Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, while her mother failed to protect her. Arthur supported her husband during the resulting criminal proceedings and remained married to him until his death in 2004.
Records obtained by the Associated Press confirm that Cledith Arthur was arrested in July 1978 and charged with raping Acton, then 12. A grand jury indicted him that September. He pleaded not guilty but subsequently failed to appear in court and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. The available records do not establish a conviction or the case’s final disposition.
Conservative publication National Review separately obtained documents corroborating the criminal proceedings, including a sworn statement from Acton’s biological father.
Acton’s account also predates her political career. In a detailed 2019 interview with The Youngstown Vindicator, she described childhood poverty, repeated moves, sexual abuse and spending a winter living in a tent outside Youngstown. Her younger brother has separately corroborated the family’s homelessness. The criminal records independently establish the proceedings involving her stepfather, rather than the family’s precise living arrangements.
Republicans denounce ad as Ramaswamy doubles down
The campaign’s decision to spend millions promoting the attack has drawn criticism from within Republican and conservative circles.
Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, a former Republican mayor of Findlay serving in Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, publicly condemned the advertisement Tuesday. “There are lines we shouldn’t cross, and this is one of them,” she wrote, adding that political disagreements should not come at the expense of basic decency.
Meghan McCain called the commercial a “dastardly ad” that never should have been produced. Conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham questioned how the campaign could expect the attack to succeed rather than backfire, while Republican strategist David Urban warned on CNN that voters could instead sympathize with Acton as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
At National Review, Kathryn Jean Lopez condemned the video as despicable and amoral, arguing that it should become a political disaster.
Other conservatives defended the attack. Donald Trump Jr. promoted the video on social media and encouraged Ohioans to watch it, while former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell also supported the commercial.
Ramaswamy’s campaign has sided with those defending the attack. Spokeswoman Connie Luck described Acton as a “serial fabulist” and continued questioning her honesty, while Ewing characterized the video as potentially decisive against the Democratic nominee.
Acton responds with ad featuring her brother
Acton responded Tuesday by accusing Ramaswamy of exploiting her estranged mother for political gain. She said she and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody after enduring neglect and abuse, including sexual abuse by Arthur’s husband.
Her brother, Philip Stearns, condemned the attack in a statement released by Acton’s campaign, saying their mother remained married to the man who sexually abused his sister even after the children were removed from the household.
Acton’s campaign also released a response advertisement titled “Abuse,” featuring Stearns describing how his older sister tried to protect him during their childhood.
“I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it,” Stearns says. He directly condemns Ramaswamy for turning his sister’s childhood into campaign material.
The controversy comes two weeks before Ohio’s November 3 election. A Marist Poll released Tuesday found Acton leading Ramaswamy 50% to 43% among likely voters, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. The survey was conducted October 15-18, before the advertisement became public, and does not measure its effect.
Ramaswamy’s campaign says the video tested favorably with persuadable voters, but has not released the underlying results. Its $4 million investment will now put the attack before Ohio voters as the candidates enter the final days of the governor’s race, despite the documented abuse proceedings and the objections of prominent figures within his own party.
