Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has stopped airing a controversial campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton, following widespread criticism, including from fellow Republicans.
“It ran to completion, and we’ve put up four other ads,” Ramaswamy said at an Oct. 29 campaign stop in Vandalia.
Ramaswamy’s campaign had initially announced plans to spend $4 million promoting the ad. However, data from ad-tracking firm AdImpact showed that it had spent approximately $1 million on two versions of the commercial.
In the 60-second ad, Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, accuses her daughter of lying about her past and says she should not be entrusted with governing Ohio. The ad drew criticism for challenging Acton’s account of her childhood, including allegations of sexual abuse by her stepfather.
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Acton has said she has not seen her mother in decades. Arthur remained with her husband even after police intervened. Acton’s stepfather was charged with rape but fled the state before standing trial. He died in 2004. Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, has supported her account, saying the siblings were removed from their mother’s custody.
Acton criticized the ad, calling it “despicable.”
The advertisement also drew criticism from prominent Republicans, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who urged Ramaswamy to take it down. President Donald Trump, however, accused DeWine of disloyalty to Republicans and urged Ramaswamy to continue airing the ad across Ohio. Trump also suggested that DeWine wanted a Democrat to win the governor’s race.
At a campaign rally in Chillicothe on Oct. 28, Trump said, “Vivek was treated very unfairly. He had the mother of his opponent say that her daughter was a liar. And the press, the fake news, criticized him.”
Vice President JD Vance also defended Ramaswamy earlier this week. He said he was “disgusted” to see Republicans “whining” about the ads, adding that “politics is a tough business.”
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The controversy also drew criticism from the biotechnology industry, where Ramaswamy made his fortune as the founder of Roivant Sciences. Six current and former biotechnology executives signed an open letter urging him to withdraw the ad and apologize to Acton and her family. The letter said the ad crossed an ethical boundary by attempting to discredit a survivor of sexual abuse and dismiss her childhood experiences despite supporting evidence.
At his Oct. 28 rally in Chillicothe, Ramaswamy did not address the controversy surrounding the ad. Instead, he focused on proposals to cut property taxes and ban sanctuary cities. He also announced plans to investigate localities where property taxes have more than doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
An internal poll commissioned by an unidentified Republican group and obtained by Axios surveyed 800 likely Ohio voters from Oct. 23 to 26. It found that Ramaswamy’s support had fallen from 45% earlier in the month to 42%, while Acton’s had risen from 47% to 50%. The poll reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points for each candidate’s result.
If Acton wins, she would become Ohio’s first Democratic governor since Ted Strickland left office in 2011.