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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/24\/us\/politics\/vivek-ramaswamy-ad-ohio-amy-acton.html?emc=edit_na_20261024&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=228638",
    "parsed_content": "Tracking the Early VoteThe Race for CongressWhen to Vote in Your StateControl of the HouseLatest PollsAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTHow the Most Ruthless Ad of the Midterms Divided RepublicansThe fallout from Vivek Ramaswamy\u2019s brutal spot targeting his Democratic rival in the Ohio governor\u2019s race showed that even in the Trump era, a political attack can be seen as going too far.Listen \u00b7 9:06 min Share full articleVivek Ramaswamy, a Republican, is facing a tight race for governor of Ohio against Amy Acton, a Democrat. Credit...Shannon Stapleton\/ReutersBy Reid J. Epstein and Campbell RobertsonOct. 24, 2026, 5:03 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google The most explosive advertisement of the midterm elections has split Republicans and again posed the question of what is fair game for campaign attacks in American politics.In the days since the leak of the ad from Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, many fellow G.O.P. politicians have denounced, disavowed or distanced themselves from the spot. Yet President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have defended the ad, a remarkably ruthless one even by the standards of modern political campaigns.The ad features the estranged mother of Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar and urging Ohioans not to vote for her. Ms. Acton has said that she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old, when she was removed from her mother\u2019s custody after her stepfather was arrested and charged with raping her.The outrage over the ad\u2019s dark backstory has left Mr. Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur who exemplifies the anything-goes, attack-at-all-costs ethos of Trump-era politics, at the center of a self-created political firestorm.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe Republican disagreements over the ad show that major figures in the party can still become divided over the rules and red lines of political warfare in the Trump era. And they set the stage for high drama on Election Day in Ohio, a state that has trended solidly Republican in recent years but now has outsize importance in the midterms. The overarching political question is: Will a potential backlash to Mr. Ramaswamy hurt other Ohio Republicans in competitive races, especially Senator Jon Husted, who is trying to fend off a well-known Democratic rival in a vital race for Senate control?There is now a degree of unpredictability in the state. Campaigns in both parties do not know how voters will react.Mr. Ramaswamy, who along with his aides declined to be interviewed for this article, said at a campaign stop on Friday that he had no regrets. The ad, he suggested, was his attempt to change the rules of engagement for Republicans in Ohio \u2014 just as Mr. Trump has done in Washington.\u201cWhat we need is a governor at the top just like President Trump is for our country \u2014 a governor for this state who stands strong, who says we will not play on your terms,\u201d he told a crowd in Strongsville, a Cleveland suburb. \u201cWe will stand for what we know is right and true, and we will not apologize for it.\u201dImageDr. Acton has said that she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old, when she was removed from her mother\u2019s custody.Credit...Carolyn Kaster\/Associated PressA Shocking Ad Emerges OnlineThere had been rumblings for weeks in Ohio political circles that Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s top aides were in touch with Dr. Acton\u2019s estranged mother.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTDr. Acton\u2019s troubled childhood was no secret, and had been the subject of reporting during her high-profile stretch as the pandemic-era health director for Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican.Mr. Ramaswamy had been trailing Dr. Acton in many public and private polls. Like other Republicans, he was confronting voter frustration with high gas prices, tariffs and Mr. Trump\u2019s leadership.Producing the ad was a politically hazardous move for Mr. Ramaswamy, a 41-year-old start-up founder who has shown a high tolerance for risk since he emerged on the scene during his 2024 campaign for president. During that race, he presented himself as a full Trump acolyte and made plenty of enemies with his brash style before placing fourth in the Iowa caucuses, dropping out and endorsing Mr. Trump.The Ramaswamy campaign was still testing the ad to gauge its effectiveness when the spot burst into public view late Monday.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTD.J. Byrnes, a left-leaning local journalist known as the Rooster, published the ad online, calling it \u201cloathsome.\u201dThe spot, which took little time to spread widely online, showed Dr. Acton\u2019s 82-year-old mother, Donna Arthur, using harsh language to denounce her estranged daughter.\u201cDon\u2019t let her become your governor,\u201d Ms. Arthur said.\u2018Just Plain Wrong\u2019The backlash was immediate and intense.As the controversy swirled, Mr. Ramaswamy reached out privately to other Ohio Republicans to gauge their reaction, according to three people briefed on the exchanges. He felt the coverage by the news media was unfair and wanted a chance to explain his thinking, even if it did not lead to public support for running the ad.Governor DeWine called the ad \u201cdeeply, deeply troubling\u201d and \u201cjust plain wrong,\u201d and he urged Mr. Ramaswamy \u2014 whom he has endorsed \u2014 to take it down. Mr. Husted, who faces his own tight election against former Senator Sherrod Brown on Nov. 3, said he would not have run the ad. Republicans in close races in other states, like Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa, who is running for Senate, said it should come off the air.Not only has Mr. Ramaswamy so far declined to back away from the ad, but his campaign also bought more than $4 million in Ohio airtime to show it to viewers.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTImageSenator Jon Husted, a Republican who is in a competitive race against former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, said he would not have run the ad.Credit...Michael M. Santiago\/Getty ImagesImageGov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, urged Mr. Ramaswamy \u2014 whom he has endorsed \u2014 to take the ad down.Credit...Pool photo by Samantha MadarSupporters of Mr. Ramaswamy echoed his contention that he has been treated unfairly by the news media and argued that there had been no public anger when Dr. Acton\u2019s campaign had attacked him.\u201cDemocrats and the media are trying to change the subject from \u2018she\u2019s a liar\u2019 to \u2018she was abused as a child,\u2019\u201d Beth Lear, an Ohio state representative from just north of Columbus, wrote in an opinion essay published Friday in The Columbus Dispatch. \u201cIt\u2019s a masterful attempt to manipulate voters\u2019 emotions by making Amy a victim.\u201dThe ad served as an attempt to shift the focus of the campaign in its final days from frustrations about Mr. Trump\u2019s economy to a referendum on Dr. Acton\u2019s honesty. But in so doing, it placed Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s own morals and ethics in the spotlight, and reminded voters that Dr. Acton survived a seriously troubled childhood.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Ramaswamy has, in a sense, run a political psychology experiment on his home state. Will voters in Ohio be outraged that he has tried to secure a political advantage through a woman estranged from her daughter over allegations of rape, or will they better recall the accusation that Dr. Acton is lying?\u201cWe ran an ad about lying,\u201d Mr. Ramaswamy told the crowd in Strongsville. \u201cAmy Acton is lying. She has been lying this entire campaign about me.\u201dBut at a pumpkin festival on Friday night in Circleville, Ohio, Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s running mate, State Senator Rob McColley, said the campaign did not believe Dr. Acton was lying about her childhood abuse.\u201cOh no, that is horrible,\u201d Mr. McColley said. \u201cWe are accusing her of lying in her adult career.\u201dAnger From the Acton CampaignDr. Acton\u2019s campaign has almost run out of words to express its disgust over the ad. A spokeswoman, Addie Bullock, has called it \u201cdespicable,\u201d \u201cdisturbing\u201d and \u201cdisqualifying.\u201d\u201cRamaswamy will do anything, including embrace child sex predators, to get what he wants,\u201d Ms. Bullock said.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCourt documents from Mahoning County, Ohio, back up the descriptions by Dr. Acton and her brother of the events of her childhood. In 1978, when Dr. Acton was 12, her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with raping her.He pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury, after which Ms. Arthur lost custody of Dr. Acton and her brother. A month later, court records show, Mr. Arthur fled the area, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The Arthurs appear to have lived the ensuing decades in Pennsylvania, and according to Dr. Acton\u2019s brother, they stayed together until Mr. Arthur died in 2004.In the campaign ad, Ms. Arthur accuses her daughter of lying about her past but does not address the rape allegations.It is not clear where Ms. Arthur lives now, and she did not respond to messages this week.She had been living in her car with some cats in the Calvary Church parking lot, just outside Boalsburg, Pa., according to the Rev. Stacy Sublett, the church\u2019s pastor. Mr. Sublett said that he had tried to find Ms. Arthur permanent housing in the area but that she declined the assistance.He said he was not aware of friends or family who came to see her.Jessica Contrera contributed reporting from Akron, Ohio, David DeKok from Boalsburg, Pa., and Kevin Williams from Circleville, Ohio. Kitty Bennett contributed research.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT"
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