ROCK BOTTOM

Dem Hopeful Tears Into MAGA Rival Over Vile Attack Ad

All five living former Ohio governors, including three Republicans, have condemned the Trump-backed candidate’s attack ad.

Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton has accused her all-MAGA rival of sinking to a new low after he dragged her estranged mother into an increasingly ugly campaign.

The race for Ohio governor took a nasty turn last week when Donald Trump-endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy released a vicious attack ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, who alleged that her daughter had lied about her difficult childhood.

Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, has been estranged from her daughter for decades. Acton was removed from her mother’s custody in 1978, after Arthur’s second husband was charged with raping Acton, then 12. Ramaswamy’s team tracked Arthur down to make a commercial that Ramaswamy insists is about lying, not child abuse.

Arthur’s second husband, Cledith Arthur, pleaded not guilty to the rape charge but fled the state with Arthur, remaining a fugitive until at least 1981, according to PBS News. He has since died.

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The spot has drawn bipartisan condemnation, and Acton herself hit back Monday during an appearance on Morning Joe.

“You know, this is an era of cruelty and distraction,” she said. “I have had a rough childhood, but it has not made me weak. You know, my opponent’s PAC is called Victors Not Victims. My opponent literally featured in one of his ads a known pedophile that was in jail for eight years just recently, and has made no positive statement about the Epstein files.”

Earlier this month, Ramaswamy’s campaign released an ad about property taxes that featured a woman named Patricia “Patty” Edwards. Also appearing in the background was her husband, Vernon Edwards, a registered sex offender who was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition involving a minor in 2006, according to court records first reported by The Bulwark.

“I’ve been on the road now and people are hearing my story,” Acton said. “But... I’m not the only one who’s been through a thing or two in their childhood.”

“Half our kids are living in poverty in my state—up to 70 percent in some pockets,” she continued. “While these folks are capitalizing and enriching things for themselves, the people of my state are going backward on every single measure. And that’s why I’m here. My childhood did not make me weak. It made me stronger, and it made me a fighter for the things that we all hold dear.”

Acton argued that “decency is on the line” in the upcoming midterm elections, and called for “good public servants on both sides of the aisle, back in office again who want to do the hard work of making life better.

“I have five governors on both sides of the aisle in Ohio—five living governors—who’ve denounced this ad,” she added.

All five living former Ohio governors—two Democrats and three Republicans—have condemned Ramaswamy’s ad.

AD BEHAVIOR

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Former President Barack Obama was in Cleveland stumping for Acton on Saturday, and took aim at Ramaswamy during his speech.

“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said.

“There’s a decency we should expect out of our public officials,” the former president added. “And I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”

On Monday morning, Acton echoed Obama’s language, saying: “There’s no low my opponent won’t sink to. But what I am asking of Ohioans and everyone is to help us push back on this. Let’s not give into this and let’s not give up on one another.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has defended the ad.

“The irony is they’re lying about an ad that is about lying,” Ramaswamy told a crowd in Cleveland on Friday. “They’re changing the subject because they don’t want to answer for their own failures.”

“We ran an ad about lying,” he said. “It had nothing to do with childhood abuse.”

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Harry ThompsonNews Reporter

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