AD NAUSEAM

GOP Insiders Make Grim Admission Over Vile MAGA Ad

The candidate was already behind in the polls before his sick campaign stunt.

Republicans fear that Vivek Ramaswamy has destroyed his Ohio gubernatorial bid by using the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in a disgraceful campaign ad.

The Trump-endorsed Ramaswamy has faced bipartisan condemnation for his Hail Mary to feature Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, in an attack ad smearing his election rival and casting doubt on whether she was raped as a child by her stepfather.

“We’ve lost the plot,” one Republican strategist told Time. “We had a real good chance and then we do this two weeks out.”

A second GOP insider added: “We now deserve to lose this race.”

The ad, which Ramaswamy still plans to run online, features Arthur accusing her own daughter of being a “liar” who “needs help.”

Acton has not spoken to her mother for decades. Arthur lost custody of both her children in the late 1970s while standing by her husband, Cledith Arthur, even after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was a child.

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Donna Arthur does not directly mention the sexual abuse allegations in Ramaswamy’s ad, but claims Acton has “lied her entire life” and dismisses her daughter’s claim that she “grew up living in a tent.”

“My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that,” Arthur said.

Ramaswamy was already trailing Acton in multiple polls ahead of the Nov. 3 Ohio gubernatorial election. A Marist poll released this month had Acton ahead of Ramaswamy by 7 percentage points (50 percent to 43 percent) among likely Ohio voters.

Following Ramaswamy’s campaign ad, prediction markets show that Acton’s odds of becoming Ohio’s next governor have improved.

Acton’s current odds on Kalshi are around 79 percent, up more than 6 percentage since The Rooster first reported the ad on Monday.

Multiple Republican figures have also joined Acton and her family in condemning Ramaswamy for thinking the ad would be a good idea.

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“Telling that the Ramaswamy Ohio smear ad, cynically designed to attack Amy Acton’s character, is actually telling us a great deal more about Ramaswamy’s total lack of character,” veteran GOP strategist Mike Murphy posted on X.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, whose antipathy toward Ramaswamy dates back to the 2024 GOP presidential primary, added: “He’s a bad guy. It’s a shame he continues to get away with it.”

In a Tuesday statement, Acton—who testified against her stepfather in court as a child—said she was sexually abused by her stepfather between the ages of 10 and 12, while her “birth mother did nothing to protect me.”

“I’ve always known that she was deeply sick and unwell, and it’s sad to see Vivek Ramaswamy exploit her all for his own political gain,” she added.

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Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, said Ramaswamy had “stooped to such a despicable low” by using their estranged mother in a campaign ad.

“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,” he said.

A grand jury indicted Cledith Arthur in July 1978, and he pleaded not guilty. He later failed to appear for a court hearing, fled the state, and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. Acton’s mother stood by him. He died in 2004.

The Daily Beast has contacted Ramaswamy’s office for comment.

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