Vivek Ramaswamy confirmed at a campaign appearance in Vandalia on Thursday that his attack ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother would stop running. The Republican candidate said the spot had “run to completion” and that his campaign had moved on to four other commercials.
The decision followed a sharp backlash to a commercial that put Donna Arthur, Acton’s birth mother, on screen to call her daughter a “lifelong liar” and urge Ohioans against voting for her. Arthur, who has been estranged from Acton for nearly 50 years, said in the ad: “If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse.”
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, is the Republican candidate for Ohio governor. Acton, his Democratic opponent, is a physician and former state health director who became prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramaswamy’s campaign pledged $4 million to run the ad statewide. It spent only around $1 million during the commercial’s run.
The spot aired on television and online beginning 19 October 2026. It first ran for one minute, then was cut to 30 seconds, removing Arthur’s assertion that Acton had falsely said the family lived in a tent.
Ramaswamy defended the attack by arguing that Acton had misrepresented her past and had avoided substantive issues facing Ohio voters.
Mike DeWine, the Republican Ohio governor who endorsed Ramaswamy, called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling” and urged him to withdraw it. “It's wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said.
The commercial prompted a nationwide firestorm, with backlash from Ohio Republicans including DeWine, four former state governors, Senator Jon Husted and Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Former Republican Governor Bob Taft said it exceeded “the bounds of human decency,” while Husted said he would not have run it.
President Trump encouraged Ramaswamy to keep the commercial on air, calling Acton “fair game” and praising Arthur as appearing lucid. Vice President JD Vance told critics to “stop whining.”
A Republican-commissioned survey of 800 likely Ohio voters, conducted 23-26 October, found Acton leading Ramaswamy by eight points, 50% to 42%. Before the ad began circulating on 19 October, the same comparison had shown Acton ahead by two points, 47%-45%.
Some 86% of respondents said they had seen, read or heard something about the commercial. Among voters familiar with it, a two-to-one ratio said the spot made them more likely to support Acton.
Brenda Malcolm, an independent voter from Columbus’ Northland neighbourhood, said: “It just totally ticked me off.”
Acton’s campaign called the spot “despicable” and demanded an apology from Ramaswamy. Addie Bullock, a spokesperson for the campaign, said Ramaswamy took it off air “in the most cowardly way possible, without even the hint of an apology.”
A Ramaswamy campaign official gave a different account of the decision, telling The Washington Post: “It rotated off like any ad would.”
Acton has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather between ages 10 and 12, and that she has not spoken to her mother since 1978. Her stepfather was indicted after the abuse allegations, and Acton and her brother were subsequently removed from their mother’s custody. Her brother, Philip Stearns, said in a statement that Acton “endured abuse while trying to protect” him.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the Ohio governor’s race from Toss-up to Leans Democratic after Ramaswamy’s campaign released the ad.
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