Her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy is airing the ad featuring her mother, whose husband was charged with sexual abuse in her childhood.
Page F124From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 22 October 2026
THE LEDGER
Trump orders Ramaswamy to keep attacking Acton's abuse; donations land in her column instead.
As it ran on the front
Arthur calls her daughter a liar about a childhood that included a stepfather charged with raping her between ages 10 and 12, a charge he never answered in court because he fled the state; he died in 2004 without a trial. Acton says she has not spoken to her mother since 1978, the year she was removed from the home. Her brother backs her account.
By Wednesday the ad has bipartisan Ohio company. Gov. Mike DeWine calls it "wrong" and asks Ramaswamy's campaign to take it down. Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson agrees. Vice President Vance tells Republicans to "stop whining" and go win the race. Commentator Scott Jennings notes on CNN that Vance "could have just ignored it" and didn't. By Thursday, President Trump settles it from Truth Social: Ramaswamy should "keep it up," a position he restates as "hitting pay dirt" — his phrase for an ad built on a woman's account of childhood sexual abuse.…
…(cont) Here is where the ledger clerk clocks in. Before the ad aired, Acton was already ahead: three points in a Bowling Green/YouGov poll in September, eight points in an Oct. 11 CNN poll, and ahead again — no margin published — in a New York Times/Siena survey the same week. After the ad aired, the Hill reports Acton's fundraising surged: she lands at No. 2 on ActBlue's trending list, behind only Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Whatever the ad buy cost the corporations and executives who funded it, ActBlue's own trending list puts the deposit in her column, not his.
It is the second time this fall the Acton campaign has had to treat an attack as a line item. On Sept. 6, an armed individual lunged at her at the Canfield Fair near Youngstown, injuring several bystanders. In September it was security. In October it is a corporate-funded spot about a woman's childhood abuse, kept on the air over her own party's objections, that her opponents cannot explain except to say she should stop complaining about it. Whoever bought that airtime bought the other side a fundraising week.
“You get it now — the ad wasn't built to win votes, it was built to launder corporate cash through a cable buy, and the con only works if nobody checks where the money actually lands. They checked. It landed in her account. That's not a messaging failure, that's the invoice coming due on cruelty, and somebody still wrote the check.”
“Look, campaigns use the tools available to them, that's just — that's politics, and if the opponent's own family has concerns, voters deserve to hear it. Did I say "family concerns"? Her estranged mother who she hasn't spoken to in almost fifty years, that's not — okay, that one's rough. But the Vice President said stop whining, and honestly, a guy who could've ignored it chose not to, that's just good discipline, I think, probably.”
The receipts
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton (D) has seen a surge in donations after she was the target of a controversial attack ad from her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy. Acton surged into second place on Democratic political fundraising site ActBlue’s “trending campaigns,” only behind James Talarico, the Texas Democrat running for…
Conservative commentator Scott Jennings said Wednesday that Vice President Vance “could have” avoided talking about an ad for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R) featuring his Democratic rival’s mother “He could have just ignored it,” Jennings said on “CNN NewsNight”
In the ad, which first circulated on social media Monday night, Democrat Amy Acton's estranged mother called her a liar.
President Trump defended Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring his Democratic opponent Amy Acton’s estranged mother on Thursday, saying the Republican “should keep it up.” In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump hit Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) over his calls for Ramaswamy to take down the ad earlier Thursday.
President claims criticism of ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother is a ‘concerted’ attack on Republican Ohio governor candidate Sign up for the Breaking News US email Trump attacks Ohio governor over call for Ramaswamy to drop ‘deeply troubling’ ad Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska Mary Peltola’s campaign to represent…
Republican Mike DeWine said ad featuring estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton was ‘wrong’ Donald Trump issued a swift rebuke against Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican governor, who on Thursday said gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was “wrong” to release an ad critical of his Democratic rival Amy Acton that featured her estranged…
President Donald Trump defended Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday, urging him to keep running an ad featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Amy Acton. Ramaswamy has come under fire for the ad blitz, which features Acton’s mother, Donna Stearns Arthur, criticizing Acton for “lying about her…
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign is spending millions in the final weeks of his bid for Ohio governor to run an attack ad that has been criticized for exploiting his opponent Amy Acton's history of sexual abuse. The campaign is being funded by some of Ohio's and the nation's most powerful corporations and executives. The ad, which…
US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday defended an explosive attack ad by Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign against his Democratic rival in the Ohio governor’s race, telling fellow Republicans to "stop whining" about it and go win the race. The ad features Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, disputing Acton’s…
"Who wouldn't use such an Ad?" President Trump wrote. "I would, it's called, 'hitting pay dirt.'"
Both Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Iowa Republican Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson said his campaign should cease airing the ad.
· Acton ahead of Ramaswamy in latest Ohio gubernatorial polling from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· Trump, Vance blitz Ohio as Democrats look to flip governor's mansion from the morgue, 11 Oct 2026
· Ohio governor's race: Ramaswamy and Acton clash in rare Democratic pickup opportunity from the morgue, 27 Sep 2026
· Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton thanks first responders after attempted attack from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Amy Acton attacked by ‘armed individual’ at campaign stop in Ohio from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Amy Acton attacked by ‘armed individual’ at event, campaign says from the morgue, 6 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.