Ramaswamy ad uses Acton's estranged mother to call her a liar; brother cites childhood rape

A roughly 60-second video featuring the estranged mother of Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton went viral on social media Monday night, with her mother calling her a liar and urging voters to reject her. By Tuesday evening, Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had confirmed to reporters that his campaign made it — and Acton's brother had responded by publicly describing, for the first time in this campaign, the childhood rape that drove the two women apart nearly five decades ago.

In the ad, Donna Arthur says her daughter did not grow up living in a tent and calls her "a liar" who "lies about her past." Arthur also says, "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy was a serious problem," and adds, "My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself." The video lacks a mandatory disclosure of who paid for and authorized it, and has not aired on television or cable — but spread widely online, shared by figures including Donald Trump Jr., according to ABC News.

It is an ad from our campaign, and the thing that I want to say is that I would love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans, and unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won't debate me.— Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican candidate for Ohio governor

Speaking to reporters, Ramaswamy said Arthur received no payment for her appearance and called the ad "legitimate," arguing that "every person who appears to know her the best … have told voters not to vote for her but to vote for me instead," according to CBS News.

Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, responded with a statement that laid out the family history in explicit terms. He said their mother had married a man, Cledith Arthur, who sexually abused Acton starting when she was 12 years old. After Cledith Arthur was arrested, he and Acton were removed from their mother's custody. Donna Arthur, he said, remained in the marriage.

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. 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.— Philip Stearns, Amy Acton's brother

The court record supports the broad outline of Acton's account. According to ABC News, an August 1978 article in the Youngstown Vindicator reported that Cledith Arthur was "bound over to the Mahoning County grand jury in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl"; because Acton was born in 1966, she would have been 12 at the time. The paper further reported that he was "arrested at his home on August 4th following an investigation initiated by the girl's father." Court records provided by the Acton campaign and cited by CBS News show Arthur faced charges of raping Acton when she was between 10 and 12 years old, and that he pleaded not guilty. Rather than face those charges, Donna and Cledith Arthur left Ohio, and authorities issued warrants for Cledith Arthur's arrest on at least two separate occasions in the years that followed. He and Donna Arthur remained married until his death in 2004.

Acton described the moment her relationship with her mother effectively ended in a 2019 interview with the Youngstown Vindicator.

In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away. That was the last time I ever saw her.— Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Ohio governor

According to the Acton campaign, that court appearance was the last time she and her mother were in contact. Records the campaign provided also show the family spent a year living in a tent, directly contradicting Arthur's claim in the ad that "none of that is true," according to CBS News.

Acton responded to the ad in a Tuesday interview with Spectrum News.

I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is something I'm just complaining about. Who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect and sexual abuse; my brother and I were removed.— Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Ohio governor

The Ramaswamy campaign's spokesperson, Connie Luck, did not deny producing the ad or denounce it when asked. Her statement framed the controversy as a question of Acton's credibility.

We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor. Everyone who knows her best – her former boss, her former state colleagues, her fellow physicians, and now her own mother – are clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her.— Connie Luck, Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson

Arthur's public attacks on her daughter's credibility did not begin with this ad. According to The Guardian and ABC News, Arthur gave a 2020 interview to Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, in which she accused Acton's father of persuading their daughter to lie and said she was present at grand jury proceedings tied to Acton's abuse allegations.

Condemnation of the ad came quickly from Democrats.

With this disgusting attack, and the relentless smear campaign leading up to it, Vivek Ramaswamy has shown that there is no depth he will not sink to if it serves his own ambitions.— Democratic Governors Association

Cincinnati-area congressman Greg Landsman called it "one of the most despicable things I've ever seen in politics," according to The Guardian. Acton's campaign also released a video ad Tuesday in which Stearns addressed voters directly, saying "Shame on Vivek" and citing what she described as Ramaswamy's contempt for both Acton and for Ohio, adding that he is "not fit to lead," according to ABC News.

The Ohio governor's race is regarded as one of the more contentious contests heading into the November 3 election, with polls indicating the race is competitive. Acton served as director of the Ohio Department of Health under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine from 2019 to 2020, overseeing the state's initial pandemic response. She has refused to debate Ramaswamy, whom she has called a "chronic liar." Ramaswamy has also drawn criticism for comments perceived as dismissive of Acton's personal history, saying she "only ever talks about something that happened to her" rather than offering a positive message. At a campaign stop at a county fair last month, an armed man rushed at Acton and injured several bystanders before police took him into custody; Acton herself was unharmed.

Supporters of Ramaswamy have also run an ad featuring a woman married to a registered sex offender, a development first reported by the Bulwark, and other aspects of Acton's personal life — including a 2019 incident in which police were called to her home during what was characterized as a domestic dispute — have resurfaced during the campaign, according to CBS News.

Why it matters — The ad and the documented history behind it have made the Ohio governor's race a test of how far personal-attack campaigning can go — and whether sourced court records can check it — in one of the most competitive statewide races of the November 3 cycle.

Sources differ on Whether Acton grew up living in a tent: Donna Arthur says in the ad: 'She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true.' (theguardian.com) vs Records provided by the Acton campaign show the family lived in a tent for a year; Acton described it in a 2019 Youngstown Vindicator interview. (cbsnews.com)

Reported by theguardian.com, thehill.com, cbsnews.com, abcnews.com, ohiocapitaljournal.com, toledoblade.com, washingtonpost.com, usatoday.com