Vivek Ramaswamy invests four million dollars in controversial Ohio campaign ad

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is moving forward with a 4 million dollar investment to run a campaign advertisement featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton. The Washington Examiner, CNN, and AP News all reported that Ramaswamy is funding the campaign and taking responsibility for the video despite intense backlash. [1][2][3][10]

In the video campaign, Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, tells viewers not to vote for her daughter and claims Acton has lied her entire life, according to the Washington Examiner. The Washington Examiner also reported that Acton strongly condemned the ad, noting that her mother stayed married to someone who sexually abused Acton when she was 12 years old. The advertisement faced swift criticism from Acton and the Democratic Governors Association. [1][4]

Acton is an American physician who served as the director of the Ohio Department of Health from 2019 to 2020. She led the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic before resigning to run as the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio. [13]

The ad controversy comes as Ramaswamy trails Acton in the gubernatorial contest. According to a Marist poll cited by the Washington Examiner, Ramaswamy is trailing Acton by seven percentage points in his bid to keep the Ohio governor's mansion under Republican control. [1][4][5]