The Democratic candidate has been estranged from her mother since childhood after her stepfather was charged with sexual abuse.
Page F123From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 21 October 2026
Vance says he's disgusted by Republicans criticizing the ad, not by what the ad says.
As it ran on the front
On September 8th, Amy Acton was thanking first responders after someone tried to attack her in person. By September 16th, independent polling already had her ahead of Vivek Ramaswamy. NPR filed the race, on September 27th, as the rare seat Democrats might actually flip in Ohio. On October 5th, the Times called it the ugliest campaign in the country, pointing to ads calling one candidate a con artist and the other a drunk.
Then Ramaswamy's campaign put Acton's estranged mother on camera. Donna Arthur calls her own daughter a liar. The ad names the stepfather who abused Acton as a child — the same stepfather Arthur stayed married to after his arrest, after the state took her children away. Acton's brother called it a despicable low. Meghan McCain, a sitting Republican senator's daughter, condemned it from the other end of the same party. Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign built it, called that ownership "responsibility," then filed the number that matters on this desk: four million more dollars, to keep it airing.…
…(cont) Jon Husted, Ohio's own Republican senator, told the AP on Wednesday he "would not have run" the ad. Vice President Vance said Wednesday too: he is "a little bit disgusted," he said — not at the ad, at the Republicans criticizing it — and he told them to stop whining. National Review's headline reminded voters why they never liked Ramaswamy in the first place; the dek called the ad bad taste. The magazine ran no dollar figure under that verdict, hon. The campaign did: four million, still on the air, same as Tuesday. Byron York told Hugh Hewitt's radio audience the ad was "really weird" and predicted it would not move the race at all — which, if true, raises the question of what the four million is buying.
Acton answered that question herself. She told Truthout her mother's then-husband sexually assaulted her as a child, and that Ramaswamy's campaign is spending money to put that fact in her opponent's mouth instead of in a courtroom record. The BBC carried the ad to readers in Britain under one headline: the race has turned ugly. From this desk it is simpler than ugly. It is four million dollars, still on the air, and a vice president's definition of disgusting — aimed at the Republicans who objected, not at the ad they objected to.
“They call it disgusting when one of their own senators says he wouldn't have run the ad — not when the ad puts a child's abuser on television to call his victim a liar. Follow the four million: that number doesn't shrink after a senator complains, it goes up. Parents in Ohio are the ones explaining this ad to their kids tonight.”
“Negative ads are nothing new in this business — nobody scripted what the mother says, she's on tape in her own words. Vance has a point that some of this is just Republicans getting squeamish about hardball... though I guess "hardball" isn't usually run through a stepfather's rap sheet — did I say that? That's not — forget I said that.”
Earlier in this story
- Ramaswamy's campaign faces bipartisan condemnation, answers with $4 million more. By Ruth · the morning edition, 21 October 2026
- Ramaswamy ad asks Acton's estranged mother to call her a liar, unites her brother and McCain's daughter. By Sal · the afternoon edition, 20 October 2026
The receipts
A staggering act of bad taste.
JD Vance, the vice-president, criticized Republicans who have spoken out against a controversial campaign ad from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar. In a Tuesday statement, Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, said his sister is…
Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday he's "disgusted" with Republicans "whining" over an attack ad from Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor's race featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother. Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, whose husband was accused of raping Acton when she was a child, calls Acton a liar in the ad.
Vice-president says GOP representatives should ‘stop whining’ about advertisement featuring estranged mother of Ramaswamy’s Democrat opponent Sign up for Breaking News US email Send us your questions about immigration and the midterms Reporting from Jerusalem The Israeli military has detained about 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers…
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton accused her mother's then-husband of sexual assault when she was a child.
Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said the recent attack ad against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, featuring her estranged mother calling her a liar, was unsettling. “You know, when I saw this, I thought, there’s something really weird about this,” York said Tuesday on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
Ohio Sen. Jon Husted (R) pushed back on a controversial campaign ad run by Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy (R) featuring his opponent's mother. In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Husted said he “would not have run”
· The Campaign for Ohio’s Next Governor May Be the Ugliest in the Country from the morgue, 5 Oct 2026
· Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton thanks first responders after attempted attack from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Ohio governor's race: Ramaswamy and Acton clash in rare Democratic pickup opportunity from the morgue, 27 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.