Vivek Ramaswamy Takes It To The House!

Nothing is too low for Republicans.

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy decided to play dirty bull against his rival, Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.

President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Ohio Republicans, Israel and the far right agitator certainly fear this woman. They see a shy medical professional who was key in the 2020 pandemic as a serious threat.

If she flips the longstanding Republican state to the Democrats, the cards could fall down hard on the party.

Ramaswamy decided to pull his "October Surprise" in his latest attempt to generate voter enthusiasm. After nearly dropping a child while doing a campaign stop in m Dayton, Ramaswamy pulls out an old lady who claims to be the mother of Acton.

His team confirmed late Tuesday that it produced a controversial advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, and the campaign said it will spend $4 million to promote it despite facing bipartisan rebuke for dredging up the painful childhood of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race.

The decision exacerbates a deeply personal element in one of the country’s most closely watched and expensive campaigns for state office. Questions about the video will likely shadow Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire who previously ran for president but has never before held public office, in the final two weeks of the contest. Democrats said he was growing desperate at a moment when more than 676,000 people have already cast ballots in Ohio.

The Republicans paid Amy Acton's mom to trash her.

The advertisement features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues. Acton, Ohio’s former public health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton.

The video’s origins were initially murky when it started circulating online. It first surfaced in a post by an Ohio political blogger, then spread across social media. It did not include the “paid for” tag that is legally required to air on television so viewers can know who produced and paid for it. D.J. Brynes, who blogs as “The Rooster,” told CNN he got the video from a voter who viewed it as part of a poll and recorded it.

Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign, said Acton’s mother was not paid for the one-minute video, which she said will stream online and air on television.

Acton spent Tuesday condemning Ramaswamy for the ad even before his campaign confirmed its provenance.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m 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,” she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.

She said Ramaswamy made similar personal attacks during his run for the Republican presidential nomination two years ago, calling it “a lifelong pattern.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement that did not address whether he was responsible for the ad or knew who produced it. In the earlier statement, Luck said Acton “has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of.”

Democrats and Republicans condemn the ad

BOMBSHELL: Amy Acton’s own MOTHER just dropped a devastating ad warning Ohio NOT to elect her daughter. She calls Amy a habitual liar who “needs help” and is totally unfit for governor. When your own mother begs voters to stay away, it’s OVER. Must watch! 👇 https://t.co/PnJBDqyqQs

— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) October 20, 2026

Casey Putsch, a car designer and YouTube provocateur who competed against Ramaswamy for the Republican nomination for governor, said on social media that he would be voting for Acton in the wake of the ad’s release. He called the video “pretty damn low.”

Acton’s campaign released a statement from her brother, Philip Stearns, who said the two were removed from their mother Donna Arthur’s custody as children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton as a child. Acton has not seen Arthur, whose last known address was in Pennsylvania, since they were in a courtroom together in 1978.

Later Tuesday, the Acton campaign released a video featuring Stearns, who recalls his older sister taking “the worst” of the abuse they faced as children in order to protect him and disparages Ramaswamy and his allies for exploiting the situation.

It's almost over.

According to police and court documents obtained by The Associated Press, 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 pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.

Vivek Ramaswamy is not fit to lead. Watch our new ad. https://t.co/EhWNMdFjjH

— Dr. Amy Acton (@amyactonoh) October 20, 2026

High-profile Republicans who back Ramaswamy — including Donald Trump Jr. and influencer Laura Loomer — elevated the video in online posts.

But others joined Democrats in condemning the ad. Meghan McCain called it “dastardly” and Dan Hauser, a strategist for 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 Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Ohio, Sherrod Brown, described the spot as “disgusting” and said everyone — including his opponent, Sen. Jon Husted — should be willing to condemn it. Husted’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

If Acton was to use Ramaswamy's family, his religion or his parent's immigration to the U.S., the Republicans would be screaming it was racist.

Mike Rogers, Ashley Moody and Michele Tafoya are using the families, the friends and the way some dress to attack their opponents. Abdul El-Sayed, Angie Nixon and Peggy Flanagan are being bombarded with dog whistle.

El-Sayed is an Egyptian American. Born in Michigan. 

Nixon is Haitian American. Born in Florida.

Flanagan is Ojibwe American. Born in Minnesota.

But to the ops, they are foreigners running for office. 

Well Ted Cruz would like to have a word.