Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton’s campaign slammed her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy Tuesday, alleging his campaign used her estranged mother, whom she has accused of abusing her and standing by the man who sexually abused her, to urge voters not to support her in the toss-up race.
A video that appears to be a campaign ad circulated on social media late Monday showing Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, saying that she loves her daughter, but adds, “Amy has a serious problem” and has lied about her past.
ABC News has not been able to verify the content or authenticity of the video, which has been shared by many users online, including Donald Trump Jr.
Ramaswamy told reporters on Tuesday that the ad did come from his campaign and that he viewed it as “legitimate.” He said that Acton’s mother was not compensated.
“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,” he said.
In the campaign ad, Arthur describes her daughter as a “liar,” saying, “She lies about her past.”
“My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” Arthur says in the video.
Arthur couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, criticized Ramaswamy over the “disgusting attack.”
“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 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said in a statement.
“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,” he added.
This is not the first time Arthur has publicly accused her daughter of lying.
In an interview with an anti-abortion access group in 2020, Arthur accused Acton’s father of convincing their daughter to lie.
When asked earlier Tuesday if the ad was made with the campaign’s knowledge or consent, Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, released a lengthy statement Tuesday, but did not deny making the ad or denounce it.
“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,” Luck said in a statement.
Luck’s statement went on to accuse Acton of “lying about Vivek and his family, lying about her own record, and then hiding from debates,” and questioning her actions during the pandemic when she was the director of the Ohio Department of Health.
“If Amy disagrees with these criticisms, she should stand before the people of Ohio, answer the questions, and let voters decide for themselves. The fact that she won’t, and Vivek will, should tell you everything about who’s really lying,” Luck ended her statement.
Acton pushed back in an interview with Spectrum News Tuesday.
“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,” she said.
The campaign released a video ad later Tuesday where Stearns echoed his criticism over Ramaswamy
“Shame on Vivek,” he says, adding, “It’s the contempt he has for Amy. It’s the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.”
Acton has been public about her experience with abuse and seeking therapy for it, She has also openly spoken about her tumultuous relationship with her mother.
In an interview with the Youngstown Vindicator in 2019, when she was first appointed director of the Ohio Department of Health, Acton described a childhood that was “out of control”, shuffling between houses with her mother and brother and the “cast of characters” her mother dated.
She alleged her mother’s second husband molested her between the ages of 9 and 12. Charges were filed against her stepfather, and Acton testified against him.
A newspaper article from August 1978 corroborates Acton’s account.
The article in the Youngstown Vindicator describes that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was “bound over to the Mahoning County grand jury in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl.” Acton was born in 1966, making her 12 at the time.
The article says he was “arrested at his home on August 4th following an investigation initiated by the girl’s father.”
Cledith Arthur died in 2004. He and Acton’s mother remained married after the allegations.
“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,” Acton said in the 2019 interview about her mother. “I was lucky that it got bad enough, because it got me out of there.”
Acton’s father received custody, which she credited for turning her life around. She then graduated top of her class in high school, was homecoming queen, and became a doctor.
Ramaswamy has also been criticized for making comments seen as dismissive of his opponents’ experiences, saying that Acton “only ever talks about something that happened to her” rather than having a positive message.
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