COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance defended an ad Wednesday by Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of Dr. Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent for Ohio governor, and spotlights the abuse she experienced as a child, even as the Republican in a tight race to retain Vance's seat in the Senate distanced himself from the ad.
During a campaign visit to Ohio, Vance told reporters he was “disgusted” by fellow Republicans who were pushing back against the ad, then later drew cheers at a political rally when he defended Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and 2024 presidential candidate.
Vance said he has watched Democrats “throw every dirty trick in the political book at Vivek,” who he considers a close personal friend -- including calling him a ‘murderer' — while “the whole time Vivek has stood tall and talked about what he wants to accomplish.”
“And now the media and the Democrats in the state of Ohio are obsessed because, guess what, Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out as it is and calls Amy Acton a liar,” he said.
During the same rally, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted shared the stage with Vance and Ramaswamy, but steered clear of discussing the ad, in which Acton's birth mother, Donna Arthur, calls her daughter "a liar" and insinuates that she has mental health issues. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton and the candidate has not seen her since 1978.
"I would not have run that ad," Husted said in a statement to The Associated Press. A day earlier, his Democratic opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, called the spot "disgusting" and said everybody — including Husted — should denounce it.
Acton, Ohio's former state health director, spent the day traveling to a previously scheduled campaign appearance in rural Wyandot County, in the northwestern part of the state. Her campaign also released a new positive ad, which — somewhat ironically — featured her appealing to voters to "find more breathing room, and let's heal what has divided us." She has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child.
In Cincinnati, the vice president said “politics is a tough business” and that the contents of Ramaswamy's ad were “not really my concern.” He said he was focused on supporting Republican candidates in the midterm elections.
"I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America," Vance said in his first public comments on the ad, which has roiled one of the most contentious and expensive governor's races in the country.
The video was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans when it exploded into public view Tuesday, just two weeks before Election Day.
Nikki Haley, who sparred with Ramaswamy during the 2024 Republican presidential primary over the personal nature of his attacks, called him "a bad guy” in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” she wrote. Meghan McCain called it “dastardly” and Dan Hauser, a long-time aide to Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said he deleted his post sharing the video once he realized “the very serious accusations that caused their issues.”
The Ramaswamy campaign's initial statement on the ad did not claim responsibility for its production, but the candidate eventually did so when he spoke to reporters at an evening campaign event. His campaign will spend $4 million to air it on TV and online in the closing weeks of the race, despite the backlash. He didn't address the ad in remarks at the rally where Vance spoke outside Cincinnati.
Police and court records show Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur, who has since died, failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive.
Acton said she has not seen her mother since she appeared in a courtroom in the late 1970s. Her campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.
Vance told reporters before the rally that Acton “lies about every single one of her positions.”
Acton's campaign declined to respond to Vance's comments, saying that her painful backstory was not the centerpiece of her run for governor.
Michael Wedding, 20, came to Vance's rally Wednesday — but not to support Ohio's Republican ticket. He said he would be parting with his large Republican family and vote for Acton for governor, adding that he attended the rally in large part to see Ramaswamy in person.
He said he had seen the ad and found it “very, very gross.”
“She was sexually abused as a child," he said of Acton, "and I thought it was kind of scummy that they would use that in an advertisement. I don’t think it’s right to use her sexual abuse as a kid, or give any sort of platform to that.”
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Binkley reported from Washington. Associated Press video journalist Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos contributed to this story from Sharonville, Ohio.
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