An advertisement from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been causing controversy and criticism from other members of the GOP. It features the estranged mother of Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton.
According to her campaign website, Acton “faced a difficult childhood,” overcame periods of abuse, “lived in a tent in the middle of winter,” and was eventually removed from the care of her birth mother. Acton was eventually able to put herself through medical school despite these challenges.
While Acton’s mother claimed in the Ramaswamy ad that Acton is a “liar,” multiple news outlets have corroborated the candidate’s account of her childhood. Cleveland.com reported that Acton’s stepfather was indicted in 1978 on charges of sexually assaulting the then-12-year-old Acton and remained at large for more than two decades until he died in 2004. NBC24 reported that “court records back Acton's childhood abuse claims,” as well.
Philip Stearns, Acton’s brother, also confirmed his sister’s side of the story. He appeared in an ad from the Acton campaign dispelling the claims from their mother.
“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,” Stearns said. “This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who endorsed Ramaswamy, criticized the ad too, as heard in a video published by The Columbus Dispatch.
“The ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine said. He also said he thinks running the ad is “wrong.”
The Columbus Dispatch also reported that Ramaswamy confirmed that the ad was from his campaign.
In a statement cited by the Acton campaign, Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, doubled down on the decision to make the ad.
“We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor,” Luck said.
Geraldo Rivera, a right-leaning journalist also told NewsNation (which played portions of the ad here): “I’m very unsettled and upset by this,” and that it wasn’t like Ramaswamy’s previous campaigns. Ramaswamy ran for president in 2024, but President Donald Trump became the GOP candidate.
Acton’s campaign noted that “Ohio Republicans including Senator Jon Husted and Secretary of State Frank LaRose,” also called out Ramaswamy for the ad. Husted said he “would not have run” the ad and LaRose also said “I probably wouldn’t run an ad like that.”
“Vivek Ramaswamy investing $4 million to run a repulsive advertisement that gives star billing to Dr. Acton’s abusive mother is both despicable and entirely predictable from a scam artist who has spent this campaign standing alongside abusers and sex predators,” said Addie Bullock, spokesperson for the Acton campaign. “Ramaswamy is showing Ohio exactly who he is – a self-serving billionaire who will do or say anything for his own gain, no matter who he harms along the way. The stakes of this race have never been higher and the contrast has never been clearer: Vivek Ramaswamy is totally unfit to lead Ohio.”
Vice President JD Vance, who is from Ohio, is not one of the Republicans who has criticized Ramaswamy’s ad.
“Now, the media, and the Democrats, and the state of Ohio are obsessed because, guess what, Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is and calls Amy Acton a liar,” the vice president claimed. Vance then went on to complain about Acton recommending that people have their children wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vance himself has had a contentious relationship with the media, though he was reportedly a secret source for POLITICO. He’s admitted to saying “dumb” things in the past, specifically his line about “childless cat ladies.”
Polling results released by Marist Poll and DecisionDeskHQ this week show that Acton has a slight lead on Ramaswamy at the polls.
