Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has urged Vivek Ramaswamy to withdraw a campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar.
Mr DeWine, a Republican who is barred from seeking another term, said the advert was “on its face, deeply, deeply troubling”. He added that knowledge of allegations of abuse and neglect in Ms Acton’s family background made it “even more wrong”.
“It’s wrong to run this ad,” Mr DeWine told reporters. “I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down.”
He declined to say whether he had spoken directly to the Ramaswamy campaign, but said he was not withdrawing his endorsement of the Republican nominee.
The advert first appeared on social media on Monday night before Mr Ramaswamy confirmed the following day that it had been produced by his campaign. It features Donna Arthur saying: “It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy was a serious problem. She is a liar; she lies about her past.”
Ms Acton, who served as Ohio’s public health commissioner under Mr DeWine during the pandemic, has previously spoken about being abused by her now-deceased stepfather. Campaign documents say he was charged in 1978 with raping her when she was aged between 10 and 12.
He pleaded not guilty and left the area while on bail. The case did not go to trial. Ms Acton has said she has not been in contact with her mother since a court hearing following her stepfather’s arrest.
Ramaswamy campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck defended the advert and accused Ms Acton of having attacked her own mother first.
“The first and only candidate to attack the mother of her opponent in this race was Amy Acton,” Ms Luck said. “Acton’s mother is speaking out about her clear pattern of lying — not abuse — and it should be covered as such, not just with the Acton campaign spin.”
Mr Ramaswamy has also defended the advert, saying: “Every person who appears to know her the best … have told voters not to vote for her but to vote for me instead.”
Ms Acton said she had hoped Mr Ramaswamy “wouldn’t sink this low, but of course he did”. She added that some Republicans “just don’t have the courage” to condemn an advert which she said had crossed “everyone’s boundary that has ever been done before”.
Republican divisions over Ramaswamy campaign ad
Vice-President JD Vance, who previously represented Ohio in the Senate, dismissed calls for Republicans to focus on the advert while campaigning in the state.
“Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern,” Mr Vance said. “Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is, if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”
President Donald Trump initially said he knew nothing about the controversy, describing it as “a very unusual situation to have a mother hate a daughter that much”. He later criticised Mr DeWine for opposing the advert and called it “very powerful”.
Mr Trump said he was unaware of the family’s history of abuse allegations, adding: “All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton, who I guess is running for governor against Vivek.”
Mr DeWine is not the only Republican to have criticised the advert. Ohio Senator Jon Husted said he would not have run it, while former congressman Jim Renacci warned that Republicans who failed to distance themselves from it risked “taking on water as well”.
