Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign confirms ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother in Ohio governor's race

Ohio’s race for governor took a sharply personal turn this week. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy confirmed on Tuesday, Oct. 20, that his campaign produced an ad featuring Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, in which Arthur calls her daughter a “liar.” His name drew more than 50,000 US searches overnight, according to Google Trends, alongside “Amy Acton mother” and “Ohio governor race.”

What the ad says

The spot began circulating on social media late Monday, ABC News and The Hill reported. In it, Arthur says she loves her daughter but that “Amy has a serious problem.”

“She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent,” Arthur says, according to The Hill. “My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” she says, according to ABC News.

ABC News reported that it initially could not verify the video’s authenticity. It had been shared widely online, including by Donald Trump Jr.

Ramaswamy: “It is an ad from our campaign”

Ramaswamy told reporters Tuesday that the ad came from his campaign and that he considered it “legitimate,” ABC News reported. He said Arthur was not compensated. “It is an ad from our campaign, and the thing that I want to say is that I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans, and unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won’t debate me,” he said.

According to Axios, the campaign plans to spend $4 million airing the spot statewide.

Before Ramaswamy’s confirmation, campaign spokesperson Connie Luck issued a statement that didn’t deny making the ad, ABC reported. “We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother,” it said, before calling Acton “a serial fabulist.”

How Acton and her family responded

Acton, a former director of the Ohio Department of Health, has spoken publicly about abuse she experienced as a child. In a 2019 interview, she said her mother’s second husband molested her between the ages of 9 and 12. Charges were filed against him and Acton testified, ABC News reported, citing a 1978 newspaper article that corroborates her account. The stepfather died in 2004; he and Arthur remained married after the allegations.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is something I’m just complaining about,” Acton told Spectrum News on Tuesday. “Who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect and sexual abuse.”

Her brother, Philip Stearns, called it a “disgusting attack.” “It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” he said in a statement. “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”

ABC News noted this isn’t the first time Arthur has publicly accused her daughter of lying; she did so in a 2020 interview with an anti-abortion group. Arthur couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, ABC reported.

Why it matters in the Ohio governor’s race

ABC News describes the race as a toss-up, and the ad arrives with two weeks to go until Election Day. Ramaswamy’s campaign has paired it with the charge that Acton is avoiding debates; Acton’s campaign says the ad exploits her childhood abuse.

We haven’t seen independent polling on the ad’s effect, and we won’t speculate on it.

FAQ

Did Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign make the ad? Yes. Ramaswamy confirmed it on Oct. 20.

Who is in the ad? Donna Arthur, Amy Acton’s estranged biological mother.

Was she paid? The campaign says no.

How much will the campaign spend on it? About $4 million statewide, according to Axios.