The campaign team for Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy announced plans to invest $4 million in an advertising initiative centered on a divisive video featuring his Democratic rival's estranged mother, which had achieved significant viral circulation online.
The video—distributed extensively across social media platforms, notably by the president's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.—has significantly impacted the gubernatorial contest by bringing attention to Democratic nominee Amy Acton's history of childhood abuse.
In the ad, her mother urged Ohio voter to reject her daughter, saying that she “is a liar.”
Deep Dive
What was in Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial ad about Amy Acton?
Why has Amy Acton been estranged from her mother?
How did Amy Acton and her brother respond to the ad?
Amy Acton's childhood abuse
Acton has disclosed that she has maintained no contact with her mother since age of 12, following an incident in which her mother's second husband alleged sexual abuse against her.
{{/usCountry}}Acton has disclosed that she has maintained no contact with her mother since age of 12, following an incident in which her mother's second husband alleged sexual abuse against her.
{{/usCountry}}He entered a not guilty plea but did not attend his scheduled court hearing. He was never found guilty and has since passed away.
Acton contends that her mother neglected to safeguard her and states that they have been estranged throughout the decades.
In response to the advertisement, Acton alleged that Ramaswamy was capitalizing on her traumatic family circumstances for political advantage.
The ad was first released on Monday evening by D.J. Byrnes, an Ohio-based political blogger operating under the pseudonym The Rooster. According to Byrnes' statement to CNN, he received the video from a constituent who encountered it during a polling survey and later recorded it.
Amy Acton's brother defends her
By Tuesday morning, Acton's campaign had issued a statement attributed to her brother, Philip Stearns, in which he condemned the video and attributed it to Ramaswamy.
“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Stearns stated. “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.”
“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.”
Republicans weigh in on the controversy
The Ramaswamy attack advertisement has elicited disapproval from both Republican and Democratic critics.
Republican analyst Meghan McCain voiced objections to the advertisement, while Casey Putsch, a former Republican candidate for governor, characterized it as “pretty damn low.”
Conservative analyst Mary Katharine Ham raised concerns about whether leveraging an opponent's estranged family member in attack messaging could inadvertently generate public sympathy for the targeted candidate.
Nikki Haley, Ramaswamy’s former rival in the 2024 presidential primary, called Ramaswamy “a bad guy.”
“It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” she wrote on X.