Vivek Ramaswamy discontinues attack ad that prompted wave of revulsion

Key points

• Vivek Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign stopped airing an attack ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother.
• The ad drew revulsion because it highlighted Amy Acton's childhood sexual abuse by her stepfather.
• Donald Trump defended the ad, while Acton's campaign released a new ad criticizing Ramaswamy.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, confirmed on Thursday that his campaign is no longer airing an attack ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. The ad prompted a wave of revulsion since Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, lost custody of her daughter in 1978, when her second husband, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping her daughter between the ages of 10 and 12.

Asked by a reporter in Vandalia, Ohio, if his campaign had stopped running the ad, Ramaswamy said: "It ran to completion and we put up four other ads." He added that he would prefer the campaign focus on policy and criticized Acton for not debating him.

Ad drew criticism from both parties

Ramaswamy's campaign had announced last week that it would spend $4m to broadcast the ad, despite criticism from Democrats and Republicans. Court records showed that Acton's mother, who called her daughter "a liar", had fled the state with her husband when her daughter accused him of rape.

In a 2020 interview with the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, Acton's mother said she was aware that Cledith Arthur had previously been accused of raping his own daughter. Ramaswamy's reference to "30-second ads" referred to the edited version of the original 60-second ad, which removed the mother's allegation that her daughter lied about living in a tent with Arthur. Court records indicated that Cledith Arthur had lived in a tent at the time of his arrest.

It ran to completion and we put up four other ads.

— Vivek Ramaswamy

Trump defends ad as Acton responds

Donald Trump repeatedly defended the ad, including at a rally with Ramaswamy on Wednesday, while refusing to acknowledge that the child rape allegation was relevant to the credibility of Acton's mother. Reporting from NBC News and Zeteo suggests that Acton's mother has suffered from mental health challenges and was found living in her car with dozens of cats, which troubled some people involved in producing the ad.

Acton's campaign released a new ad on Thursday asking, "How far will Vivek Ramaswamy go?" and warning that he would "smear his opponent for being raped by her stepfather when she was just 10 years old". Acton also addressed the ad at an event, saying: "My opponent has now chosen to exploit my childhood intentionally. He's doing it in a desperate attempt to save his struggling campaign. But I'll tell you, Mr Ramaswamy, it's not going to work."