Ramaswamy takes responsibility for attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother
Ramaswamy says the spot tested well with persuadable voters as his campaign pushes a statewide TV and digital buy despite bipartisan backlash.
- On Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign produced a controversial advertisement featuring Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, and committed $4 million to air it statewide.
- The minute-long spot features Arthur calling her daughter a "liar" and disputing Acton's account of her childhood, which Acton has publicly described as involving poverty, neglect, and sexual abuse by her mother's husband.
- Court records from 1978 show Acton's stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping her at age 12, leading authorities to remove Acton and her brother, Philip Stearns, from their mother's custody.
- Acton's brother Philip Stearns labeled the spot a "despicable low" and accused Ramaswamy of exploiting childhood trauma, though the campaign maintains the advertisement tested well with "persuadable" voters.
- With the November 3 election two weeks away, Ramaswamy's campaign is proceeding with the statewide buy despite intense backlash from both Democratic and Republican figures.
162 Articles
162 Articles
Westfalenpost
A commercial by Vivek Ramaswamy drags the alienated mother of Democrat Amy Acton in front of the camera. Republicans are also outraged.
Berliner Morgenpost
A commercial by Vivek Ramaswamy drags the alienated mother of Democrat Amy Acton in front of the camera. Republicans are also outraged.
The Ohio gubernatorial election in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections on November 3 is turning into the worst mudslinging campaign, with even the biological mother, who was disowned due to a sexual assault scandal, being mobilized to attack her daughter in advertisements. Even Republicans are expressing criticism and concern as the Republican side aired ads mobilizing the Democratic candidate's mother to urge people not to support her daughter.
The advertisement staged the biological mother of the democrat Amy Acton who urged not to vote for her daughter, who was the victim of alleged rape in her childhood.
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