An anonymous attack advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton has intensified the state's election campaign.
The one-minute video circulated widely on social media about two weeks before Election Day and does not identify who paid for or authorized it.
News reports said the advertisement had not aired on television or cable.
Origins of the Video Remain Unclear
According to WLWT, Ohio political blogger D. J.
Brynes, who writes as The Rooster, told CNN he received the recording from a voter who had seen it during a poll.
It remained unclear whether Donna Arthur, Acton's mother, had been paid to participate in the advertisement.
In the video, Arthur criticizes her daughter and defends the Republican candidate.
"It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy was a serious problem.
She is a liar; she lies about her past," Arthur said in the advertisement.
Arthur remained married to Acton's stepfather after allegations of sexual abuse emerged, and she questioned her daughter's account of their family history.
Acton publicly challenged the use of her childhood experiences in the campaign.
Speaking to Spectrum News, the former Ohio public health director connected the advertisement to Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, although his campaign did not acknowledge responsibility for its production.
"I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I'm 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," Acton said.
She also accused her opponent of repeatedly using personal attacks during political campaigns.
"This is a lifelong pattern with my opponent," Acton said.
Brother Defends Acton and Condemns the Ad
Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, defended his sister and condemned the advertisement in a statement released by her campaign.
He said the siblings were removed from their mother's custody after their stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with raping Acton when she was a child.
"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 twelve years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point," Stearns said.
Stearns said the siblings subsequently lived with their father and criticized their biological mother for remaining married to Cledith Arthur after the allegations emerged.
"Our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died," Stearns said.
He further accused Ramaswamy of exploiting the family's history for political gain.
"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," Stearns said.
Acton's campaign later released a response advertisement featuring Stearns, who described his older sister as having endured the worst of their childhood abuse while trying to protect him.
Records cited by CBS News and The Associated Press show that Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged in July 1978 after Acton's biological father reported the alleged abuse.
The incidents were alleged to have occurred between December 1976 and April 1978, when Acton was between 10 and 12 years old.
Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury that September.
According to court records cited in the reports, he failed to appear at a hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981.
He died in 2004.
Acton previously described her difficult childhood, including periods of poverty and homelessness. Records supplied by her campaign indicate that the family lived in a tent for a year.
In a 2019 interview with The Youngstown Vindicator, Acton recalled the last time she saw her mother in court.
"In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away," Acton told the newspaper.
"That was the last time I ever saw her," Acton said.
Her campaign maintains that the courtroom encounter was their final meeting.
The reports said Donna and Cledith Arthur left Ohio after being released on bond without facing the charges, later living in Pennsylvania.
Ramaswamy's campaign spokeswoman, Connie Luck, issued a statement that criticized Acton but did not confirm whether the campaign had produced or funded the video.
"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.
Luck also accused Acton of misrepresenting her record and Ramaswamy's family.
She said the Republican candidate had accepted debate invitations from CNN and WLWT and was prepared to defend his record publicly.
"Vivek has accepted debate invitations from CNN and WLWT because he believes Ohioans deserve to hear directly from the people asking to lead their state.
He stands ready to defend his record against Amy Acton's defamatory lies.
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 said.
The advertisement also received attention from prominent political figures. Donald Trump Jr. and influencer Laura Loomer amplified the video online, according to WLWT.
However, criticism also came from Republicans.
Meghan McCain described the advertisement as "dastardly," while Dan Hauser, a strategist for Republican Sen.
Mike Lee of Utah, said he removed his repost after recognizing the seriousness of the allegations behind the family dispute.
Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown called the advertisement "disgusting" and urged political figures, including his opponent, Sen.
Jon Husted, to condemn it.
Husted's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to WLWT.
Acton served as Ohio's public health director under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her personal history has become a recurring subject in the gubernatorial campaign, which has also revisited a 2019 incident in which police were called to her home during what was described as a domestic dispute.
