US Vice President JD Vance urged Republicans to stop “whining” about an Ohio attack ad targeting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, while campaigning in the state for GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, according to BBC News reporting.
The ad — and what it leaves out
The ad features Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged mother, saying her daughter “lied her entire life.” BBC News notes the spot does not mention that Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping Acton when she was a child. The Arthurs fled Ohio, Cledith Arthur was never prosecuted, and he died in 2004, the BBC reports.
Acton and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody when Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged in 1978. Acton last spoke to her mother then, she said in an interview with The Vindicator, cited by BBC News.
When the video first appeared on social media Monday evening, it did not disclose who paid for or authorized it, the BBC reports. Ramaswamy confirmed Tuesday it came from his campaign and later pledged to spend $4 million to air it statewide.
Vance’s response on the trail
Asked by BBC News if the ad was appropriate, Vance said, “It’s not really my concern,” adding he was “a little bit disgusted” that some Republicans were “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.”
At a rally for Ramaswamy, Vance defended the spot: “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 like it is, and calls Amy Acton a liar.”
Pushback from both parties
Ramaswamy’s move drew criticism across party lines. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said of Ramaswamy, “he’s a bad guy. It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,” according to the BBC.
Other Republicans also criticized the ad. Ohio Senator John Husted, who is up for re-election, told the Associated Press, “I would not have run that ad.” Ohio Secretary of Frank LaRose, who is running for state auditor, told WSYX-TV, “I probably wouldn’t run an ad like that, but every candidate gets to make their own decision.”
Asked Wednesday about the ad, President Donald Trump said, “I know nothing about it. I heard the mother went very rogue on the daughter,” adding, “It’s a very unusual situation to have a mother hate a daughter that much. But I don’t think that has anything to do with Vivek.”
Acton’s counter and a professor’s view
Acton’s campaign released its own ad Tuesday featuring her brother, Philip Stearns, who recounts childhood abuse and says, “Amy always got the worst of it.” He adds, “Shame on Vivek. It’s the contempt he has for Amy. It’s the contempt he has for Ohio.”
David Lublin of American University’s School of Public Affairs told the BBC that attack ads have “become more intense,” and he described this one as “of a different order” because “they’re estranged not over policy but over a rape allegation.” Lublin said he believes President Trump’s rhetoric has helped coarsen political discourse and predicted the Ramaswamy ad could backfire by depressing turnout among its target. His comments are analysis and not findings.
The race shifts
The Cook Political Report moved the Ohio governor’s race from “leans Republican” to “toss up,” meaning neither candidate has a clear advantage, according to the BBC.
