Ramaswamy Spends $4 Million on Attack Ad Amid Backlash

Vivek Ramaswamy is spending more than $4 million on a campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, even as Republican leaders call for it to come down. President Donald Trump praised the ad and urged Ramaswamy to keep it on the air. The people whose lives it puts on display don’t get the same say as the political machines paying to broadcast it.

Acton has described her childhood as filled with neglect and abuse. She says she hasn’t seen her mother, Donna Arthur, since 1978. In the ad, Arthur accuses her daughter of lying about her upbringing. That year, Arthur’s husband and Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was indicted on a rape charge involving Acton. He was never convicted. Arthur and her husband fled Ohio for Pennsylvania.

The Ad and the Money Behind It

Ramaswamy has doubled down on the ad despite calls from Gov. Mike DeWine and former Gov. John Kasich, both Republicans, to take it down. DeWine called it “deeply, deeply troubling,” particularly given Acton’s childhood abuse. Ramaswamy’s campaign plans to keep airing it through Election Day, with more than $4 million committed to the effort.

Trump backed the decision while campaigning in Chillicothe on Oct. 28. “The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good!” he wrote on Truth Social. His words make the contest plain: a powerful ally can turn a candidate’s controversial ad into a rallying point, while the person whose family history it uses must answer in public.

The ad backlash has come alongside a shift in the race. Polling suggests Acton might hold a slight lead over Ramaswamy, and political forecasters have moved the contest from a toss-up to “leans Democrat.” Those figures measure the electoral contest. They don’t give people outside it a say in how campaigns spend money or choose what private pain to put on air.

The Ballot Meets Local Hardship

Trump’s rally marked his third Ohio campaign stop of the midterm election. He has won Ohio three times, most recently by 11 percentage points. Ramaswamy and GOP Sen. Jon Husted face political headwinds as voters express frustration over high gas prices from the unpopular Iran War, rising property tax bills and opposition to data centers, which have been particularly prolific in Ohio.

Chillicothe has faced economic hardship since the Pixelle Specialty Solutions paper mill, a major employer, closed in August 2025, costing hundreds of people their jobs. The plant now makes nitrile gloves. A data center company is leasing some of the land, while U.S. Paper Mill is bringing back some paper production employees. Workers here have already felt the impact of changes to a major local employer. The rally comes to Chillicothe.

A Contest of Political Machines

Husted is in a tight race with former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost reelection in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno. Brown is seeking a comeback against Husted, whom DeWine appointed to serve the remainder of Vice President JD Vance’s Senate term. Voters face competing candidates for office; DeWine made the appointment that placed Husted in the Senate.

On Oct. 24, former President Barack Obama rallied with Brown and Acton, criticized Trump and condemned Ramaswamy’s decision to run the ad. “There’s got to be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,” Obama said. He hadn’t campaigned in Ohio since 2018, when Democrat Richard Cordray lost the governor’s race to DeWine.

Trump is campaigning in Ross County, which he won three times, including by 39 percentage points in 2024. He has already campaigned in Vandalia near Dayton, Youngstown and northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati. Vance has made stops in the Cincinnati area and Lima. The candidates and their allies keep moving through the state, while Chillicothe’s workers and Acton’s family history become material in the contest for office.