Ohio's Mother-Ad Experiment Ends: A Quarter of the Budget Spent, an Eight-Point Hole Dug

Ohio's Mother-Ad Experiment Ends: A Quarter of the Budget Spent, an Eight-Point Hole Dug

A 60-second spot starring an estranged mother leaves the air early

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has pulled his widely condemned attack ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton, confirming at a Thursday campaign stop in Vandalia, Ohio, that its planned run was over. His campaign had said it would spend $4 million airing the spot, but data from ad-tracking firm AdImpact showed spending of roughly $1 million, about a quarter of the announced buy.

'Liar' and 'needs help': a mother deployed against her daughter

The ad starred Acton's birth mother, Donna Arthur, who called her daughter a "liar" who needs "help," urging Ohioans not to let Acton "become your governor" and warning: "If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse." The original 60-second version was later quietly cut to a 30-second edit that removed Arthur's denial of Acton's account of childhood homelessness, after days of scathing bipartisan criticism.

The backstory the ad never mentioned: a rape charge at age 12

Court records and a statement from Acton's younger brother Phil Stearns fill in what the ad omitted. In July 1978, Acton's biological father reported her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, for raping her between December 1976 and April 1978, when she was 10 to 12 years old. The stepfather was indicted by a grand jury, then fled Ohio with Acton's mother and became a fugitive. Arthur lost custody of both children and stayed married to the accused man until his death. Acton, who testified against him at age 12, has not seen or spoken to her mother since leaving that courthouse.

DeWine says take it down as Trump says keep it up

Term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling," said knowing the abuse backstory made it "even more wrong," and urged the Ramaswamy campaign to take it down, while keeping his endorsement of Ramaswamy intact. President Donald Trump took the opposite line, calling the spot "powerful" on social media, writing "Who wouldn't use such an Ad? I would, it's called 'hitting pay dirt,'" and telling Ramaswamy to leave it on the air because "she's fair game." Vice President JD Vance told Republicans to stop "whining" about it.

A broken neutrality pledge and a leaked poll that stung

Ohio's biggest newspaper, The Plain Dealer, tore up a no-endorsement policy announced just months earlier to endorse Acton, writing that a candidate who "uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party." Then came the leak: an internal Republican poll obtained by Axios, surveying 800 likely voters October 23 to 26, showed Acton ahead by eight points, 50 percent to 42 percent, up from a two-point lead before the ad began airing October 19. Fully 86 percent of respondents knew of the ad, and among those familiar with it, twice as many said it made them more likely to vote for Acton than for Ramaswamy. The attached memo conceded the ad "is having a significant effect on the gubernatorial race."

Unfavorables move the wrong way as forecasters shift the race

A Suffolk University-USA TODAY Ohio poll found the damage concentrated on the sponsor: Ramaswamy's unfavorable rating rose from 52.2 percent to 54.2 percent, while Acton's held steady at about 41 percent. A Fox News poll put Acton ahead 50 percent to 48 percent, with women favoring her by 10 points and men favoring Ramaswamy by seven. The Decision Desk HQ polling average showed Acton up about 3.5 points, and the Cook Political Report moved the race from toss-up to lean Democrat. Axios also reported the ad faced internal resistance when it was shot months ago, quoting a source close to the campaign: "The candidate is the one pushing for it. This was not planned. But Vivek got what he wanted."

One week left: a health director versus a biotech millionaire

Acton's campaign called the ad "despicable," said it should never have run, and demanded an apology; it has answered with a response spot featuring her brother rebutting their mother's claims. Ramaswamy insists the ad had "nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse" and is about what he calls Acton's record of lying. With the ad off the air and Election Day days away, Ohio voters choose between a former state health director running on public-service credentials and a biotech entrepreneur running with Trump's blessing.