Ramaswamy Bets Millions On Bombshell Ad Featuring Dem’s Estranged Mother

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is going all in on the explosive ad rocking the ugly race for the governor’s mansion.

Ramaswamy’s campaign accepted responsibility and is pouring $4 million behind the bombshell ad, which features the estranged mother of his opponent, Ohio Democrat gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, calling her daughter a “liar” and accusing her of fabricating stories about her childhood.

“It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life,” Donna Arthur says in the one-minute ad. “Don’t vote for people who lie. 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.”

Sources close to Ramaswamy’s campaign told Axios the ad tested well with “persuadable” voters, leading to the multi-million-dollar statewide blitz that began Tuesday night. 

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“This is part of a pattern,” Ramaswamy told reporters at a Tuesday campaign event in Columbus. “Someone else who appears to know her well … says the same thing, and I do think that is important for voters to take that into account, especially because Amy Acton has hid from debate and ducked questions.”

The ad quickly sparked a firestorm online, with liberal and conservative commentators alike warning it could backfire and boost Acton’s campaign in the homestretch. Trailing candidates often turn to negative ads to erode their opponents’ standing and shake up a stagnant race. Ramaswamy is trailing Acton by nearly four points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

But Ramaswamy feels it’s fair game. “What I do know [is] that Amy Acton has been repeatedly and serially dishonest during this campaign and for much of her record in public service, and I do think that record deserves to be scrutinized,” he told WJW.

On Tuesday morning, Acton’s campaign condemned Ramaswamy over what it described as an “attempt to platform their estranged and abusive mother.” Acton also released a statement, saying she and her brother endured “abuse, hunger, and neglect” in their mother’s care.

“We were often kept in a dark basement, were frequent-fliers with child protective services, and lived in fear of our birth mother’s violent and erratic temper,” Acton said. “Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me.”

“I’ve always known that she was deeply sick and unwell, and it’s sad to see Vivek Ramaswamy exploit her all for his own political gain,” she added.

The New York Times said Youngstown police and court officials “could not immediately produce records” from the 1970s to corroborate Acton’s account. However, the Acton campaign provided documents showing that her stepfather pleaded not guilty, was indicted by a grand jury, and fled the state before trial, according to the Times. A subsequent arrest warrant was issued, but he never appeared before a judge. He died in Pennsylvania in 2004.

Meanwhile, Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign, accused Acton of misrepresenting her record and dodging voters. 

“We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor,” Luck said in a statement to The Daily Wire. 

Acton, a physician who served as director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, has previously described her childhood as “rough.”

“I am from Youngstown. I had a pretty rough childhood and experienced what it was like to live in a tent, to experience abuse and neglect, not have the heat on, not have a home,” Acton said in an interview with local outlet 19 News. “So that all motivated me to become a doctor.”

Acton has also described an “out of control” and “nomadic” childhood with her mother, saying she lived in more than a dozen different places during her first 12 years. According to Acton, she eventually moved in with her father and his relatives.

“I have so many crazy stories … I spent so much time being scared as a kid, but also navigating the adult world,” Acton told The Vindicator in 2019. 

Acton and Ramaswamy are locked in a tight race to succeed Ohio’s term-limited Republican Governor Mike DeWine. With just two weeks until Election Day, the Cook Political Report lists the race as a toss-up.

Ramaswamy and Republican Sen. Jon Husted will campaign with Vice President JD Vance in Cincinnati on Wednesday.

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