An attack ad targeting Ohio governor candidate Amy Acton features her estranged mother calling her a “liar” and endorsing Republican rival Vivek Ramaswamy.
Acton’s campaign and her brother, Philip Stearns, condemned the advert, accusing Mr Ramaswamy of using allegations of childhood sexual abuse as a political weapon.
In the video, Donna Arthur says: “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.”
Mr Stearns said it was “not surprising” that Mr Ramaswamy had “stooped to such a despicable low”. He said Acton had been sexually abused at the age of 12 by their birth mother’s husband, Cledith Arthur.
“Our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died,” Mr Stearns said, describing the advert as an attack by “a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants”.
Mr Ramaswamy told reporters that the video was produced by his campaign. He defended it by saying: “Every person who appears to know her the best … have told voters not to vote for her but to vote for me instead.”
The advert began circulating on social media on Monday night. It does not include the required disclosure identifying who paid for or authorised it, and it has not aired on television or cable.
Connie Luck, a spokeswoman for Mr Ramaswamy, said the campaign did not know what had happened between Acton and her mother. But she accused Acton of being “a serial fabulist” with “serious problems with the truth”.
Allegations about Amy Acton’s childhood
Acton, who served as Ohio’s public health commissioner under Republican governor Mike DeWine during the pandemic, has previously spoken publicly about being abused by her now-deceased stepfather.
Court records supplied by her campaign show that Cledith Arthur was charged in 1978 with raping Acton when she was aged between 10 and 12. He pleaded not guilty.
Acton has also described experiencing poverty and homelessness during her childhood. Records supplied by her campaign say the family lived in a tent for a year.
She and Mr Stearns were later removed from the Arthurs’ custody and went to live with their father, her brother said. Acton told the Youngstown Vindicator in 2019 that their lives became more stable after the move.
Acton said that, after Arthur was charged, she went to give her mother a kiss at the courthouse, but her mother “just turned her cheek away”. She said it was the last time she saw her.
Her campaign says that court appearance remains the last time Acton saw Donna Arthur. Donna and Cledith Arthur, who had been released on bond, left Ohio without facing charges, and lived in Pennsylvania until his death in 2004.
