The high stakes Ohio gubernatorial campaign descended into a bitter political turn after Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy defended a controversial attack ad featuring Democratic nominee Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who accuses her daughter of lying about her past.
In the commercial circulated online, Arthur claims her daughter has “a serious problem” and “lies about her past.”
Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign produced the ad, stating Arthur was not paid and further argued the spot is “legitimate” and questioned Acton’s credibility, criticizing her for refusing to debate him on key substantive issues affecting Ohioans.
Ramaswamy’s spokesperson, Connie Luck, doubled down, labeling Acton a “serial fabulist” and accusing her of misleading voters regarding her record and public health decisions during the pandemic.
Acton and her family forcefully denounced the ad as a despicable personal attack. Acton, former director of the Ohio Department of Health, has spoken publicly about enduring severe childhood abuse and neglect before being removed from her mother’s custody at age 12.
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Local newspaper archives from August 1978 corroborate her account, documenting that her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and bound over to a grand jury for raping a 12-year-old girl following an investigation initiated by Acton’s father. Cledith Arthur died in 2004, and Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death.
Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, slammed Ramaswamy for turning childhood trauma into a political talking point, declaring that Ramaswamy showed “contempt for Ohio” and was “not fit to lead.”
Acton stated she would not normalize and trust an opponent who trivializes her childhood trauma and weaponizes her estranged mother to lead.
Meanwhile, Republican figures defended the campaign’s strategy including Vice President JD Vance who came to Ramaswamy’s defense, accusing Democrats of running a smear campaign against his longtime friend and using “every dirty trick in the political book” while refusing to face tough questions.
The controversy drew widespread national reaction, including a direct response from Indian American political commentator Kaivan Shroff.
In a viral Instagram reel targeting Ramaswamy’s commercial, Shroff accused the Republican candidate of hypocrisy for dragging family members into politics.
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Shroff goes on to question Ramaswamy’s own business history involving his own mother, pointing to his former biotech company that paid his mother, Dr. Geetha Ramaswamy, as an executive while utilizing her clinical evaluations of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug.
Shroff noted that after the company went public and raised hundreds of millions of dollars, the drug failed in clinical trials, causing stock prices to plunge 70% in a single day, though Ramaswamy had already realized $37 million in capital gains.
Shroff argued that Ramaswamy should address questions surrounding his own family’s financial dealings before exploiting another candidate’s traumatic childhood background to score political points.
As the Ohio gubernatorial race intensifies, this bitter clash puts personal history, family dynamics, and contentious campaign tactics, on center stage.
With both sides trading sharp accusations, voters are left navigating a deeply polarized political landscape as election day approaches.