JD Vance not only defended MAGA candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for his twisted ad attacking his opponent in the Ohio governor’s race, but he also went after members of his own party who have condemned the ad.
The vice president, a father of four young children, including a daughter, was traveling to Ohio, where he held a campaign rally and brought up the controversial ad featuring Democratic candidate Amy Acton’s estranged mother himself to attack her.
In the ad, Donna Arthur called her daughter a liar after Acton has long claimed she was sexually abused as a child by her stepfather. Acton has been estranged from her mother since 1978, when Arthur stood by her husband in court.
Some Republicans have slammed Ramaswamy for using personal family trauma for political gain, but Vance applauded it.
Speaking at a rally in Ohio on Wednesday, Vance doubled down on defending Ramaswamy for using Acton’s mother to attack his opponent.
“Now the media and the Democrats in the state of Ohio are obsessed because guess what? Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial, which calls it out like it is and calls Amy Acton a liar,” Vance told the cheering MAGA crowd.
It came after a reporter earlier in the day also asked Vance whether he believed the ad was “appropriate,” noting that some GOP members have backed away from the spot featuring a woman who stood by an accused pedophile over her daughter.
“I’ll be honest with you. Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern. What is my concern is who’s going to govern the next generation of American government, who is going to win the Senate race in the state of Ohio, who’s going to win the governor’s race in the state of Ohio?” Vance said.
But then the vice president also went a step further, criticizing Republicans who have said the ad crossed a line.
“I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance said.
The vice president, who has touted himself as a devout Catholic and recently promoted a memoir about returning to his faith, fired back that he believed Acton was “unfit” to serve as governor.
Acton has been open about her childhood in Youngstown, saying in an interview back in 2019 that she was sexually abused by her stepfather between the ages of 9 and 12.
A newspaper report from the time showed her stepfather was charged with rape in 1978 after her biological father reported it to the police. The National Review obtained documents that provided evidence of sexual abuse. A grand jury indicted Cledith Arthur, but he never faced trial because he fled. He died in Pennsylvania in 2004.
In the ad, her mother, who backed her husband over her daughter in court, does not directly address the sexual abuse accusations but claimed Acton “is a liar.”
“She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent—none of that is true. She’s lied her entire life,” Arthur said on camera. “My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself.”
As the ad circulated on social media, Acton’s campaign released a statement from her brother defending his sister.
“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. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core—a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants,” said Philip Stearns.
The backlash to the ad was fast and furious. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who clashed with Ramaswamy during the 2024 presidential campaign, reacted in an X post in which she wrote: “Just seeing what we tried to tell everyone back then. He’s a bad guy. It’s a shame he continues to get away with it.”
Other critics called it disgusting and desperate, but Ramaswamy took ownership of it as a campaign ad, saying he would “love” for the race and election to “be about the substantive issues,” while complaining, “she won’t debate.”
Axios reported on Tuesday that the campaign plans to spend $4 million on the ad, but it could be a major gamble in the final two weeks of the election season. As the backlash over the ad spread, Acton’s chances of winning the governor’s race spiked even further.
But Vance argued on Wednesday that Ramaswamy should be the next governor of his home state before heading to a campaign event and dismissed the use of her mother despite Arthur standing by her daughter’s accused abuser.
“Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is: if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement,” Vance said.
