Trump Doubles Down on Ramaswamy's Family Attack as Ohio Slips From His Grip

Trump Doubles Down on Ramaswamy's Family Attack as Ohio Slips From His Grip

A $4 Million Bet on an Estranged Mother

Vivek Ramaswamy is closing his campaign for Ohio governor the way he entered national politics: with a wager that voters will reward never-back-down bombast. His campaign acknowledged it produced an attack ad starring Donna Arthur, the estranged birth mother of Democratic nominee Amy Acton, calling her daughter "a liar" and insinuating she has mental health problems. The campaign said it would spend $4 million promoting the spot, which first surfaced on an Ohio politics blog before the campaign claimed ownership of it.

Trump Says Keep Airing It: "Hitting Pay Dirt"

President Donald Trump threw his full weight behind the ad in a lengthy social media post on October 22, calling it "very powerful" and accusing the media of a "concerted and well coordinated attack" to force it off the air. "Who wouldn't use such an Ad?" he wrote. "I would." Trump followed up by saying Ramaswamy should keep running the spot even knowing Acton's history, describing it as "hitting pay dirt." Vice President JD Vance, campaigning in his native Ohio, backed the ad and expressed disgust at Republicans "whining" about it as low and in poor taste.

DeWine Rebukes His Own Party's Nominee

The backlash crossed party lines. Republican Governor Mike DeWine, under whom Acton once served as health director, called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling" and "just wrong," urging the Ramaswamy campaign to take it down. Republican Senator Jon Husted, locked in a tight retention race, said he would not have run the ad, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose offered the same distancing verdict. The split leaves Ohio Republicans publicly divided in the race's final days, with the sitting governor and the president openly on opposite sides.

Records Back Acton's Account of Abuse

Acton has said she was removed from her mother's custody at age 12 after her stepfather was charged with raping her, and that she has had no contact with her mother since. Court records support her: Cledith Arthur was arrested in the summer of 1978 for the rape of 12-year-old Acton, following abuse that spanned ages 10 to 12. Her younger brother said their mother lost custody and stayed married to Acton's abuser until he died. Fact-checkers who reviewed the files concluded the records back Acton's account of her childhood, not the ad's insinuations. "I won't normalize somebody" turning the sexual abuse she endured at twelve "into a political talking point," Acton said.

The Polls Flip Toward the Democrat

The controversy has engulfed a race already moving against Republicans. A Marist poll conducted October 15-18 put Acton ahead 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, including a 53-to-34 lead among independents. A Cook Political Report poll taken before the ad showed Acton up by five points. Two nonpartisan forecasters, the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball, have shifted the race from toss-up to leaning Democratic, and Decision Desk HQ gives Acton a 62 percent chance of victory. An outlier ActiVote survey spanning September 27 to October 19 had Ramaswamy ahead 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent, a reminder that the race remains competitive.

A Purple Warning in a State Trump Won by 11

The stakes extend beyond the governor's mansion. Trump carried Ohio by about 11 points in 2024, yet his approval in the state now stands at just 39 percent against 58 percent disapproval, with roughly a quarter of his 2024 Ohio supporters expressing some regret. In the three counties Trump carried by 20 points or more, Republicans' early-vote edge has collapsed from 30 points to 5. Voters will decide on November 3. An Acton victory would make her Ohio's first elected Democratic governor since 2006. The money race already favors her: she raised $10.1 million in August and September to Ramaswamy's $5.6 million, even as the biotech billionaire has surpassed his pledge to put at least $30 million of his own money into the bid.