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It was a brutal rebuke from a newspaper that announced only months ago that it would no longer endorse candidates for major races.

CLEVELAND–Ohio’s biggest newspaper has torn up its own rules and endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy’s Democratic rival—saying his vile attack ad is completely disqualifying.

In a brutal blow for the billionaire president and his billionaire choice for Ohio’s next governor, The Plain Dealer’s editorial board declared on Sunday that they could not remain silent after Ramaswamy’s campaign used the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton to attack her credibility.

“A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party,” the board wrote of the attack ad Ramaswamy released last week.

“We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it. Today, we endorse Democrat Amy Acton for governor.”

The scathing editorial–which comes just nine days before Election Day–is particularly potent because the newspaper announced only months ago that it would no longer endorse candidates for governor, the U.S. Senate or the presidency following reader feedback that it should concentrate on down-ballot contests.

But the board argued it could not remain silent in the face of such a consequential election.

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“There are moments when a community must decide what it stands for, when its institutions have a duty to speak and when silence itself becomes a statement,” it wrote.

“Ohio has reached such a moment.”

The Plain Dealer’s rebuke comes after a bruising week on the campaign trail, where Ramaswamy’s decision to turn Acton’s family history into a political attack ad has threatened to overshadow his message on the issues facing Ohio voters.

The Daily Beast saw this firsthand as it traveled across the Buckeye State over the weekend–from the shopping malls in Strongsville and the pumpkin shows of Circleville, to downtown Cleveland and beyond.

“I wouldn’t have told him to put out that ad,” said MAGA supporter Henry Nickel, who has spent the past few weeks knocking on doors around Youngstown to bridge what he admits was an “enthusiasm gap” for Jon Husted, the GOP Senate candidate whose body Trump has bizarrely thirsted over.

Nickel, however, remains more optimistic than other GOP members, who fear that Ramaswamy’s ad scandal could now affect Husted’s chances of holding on to his must-win Senate seat over Democrat candidate Sherrod Brown.

Other Republicans declared they would not vote for Ramaswamy or Acton to be their next governor at all, undercutting the very thing Trump’s rallies are designed to do: turn out the vote.

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“If one must sell one’s soul and reject decency to be elected to office in Ohio, then I praise my Savior and Protector that @ohiogop pushed Dave out of the race a year before the primary,” Darlene Yost, the wife of former Ohio attorney general Dave Yost, wrote on X. “Lord forgive us - and save our republic.”

The ad featured Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar. But it omitted the history of alleged abuse that led to Acton being removed from her mother’s custody at age 12, after her stepfather was charged with raping her.

Ramaswamy, however, doubled down, emboldened by Trump and vice president JD Vance’s support.

“Our ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies, including during this campaign,” the billionaire biotech entrepreneur said during a campaign event.

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By Saturday, however, his campaign quietly altered the original 60-second version with a 30-second edit, which dropped footage of Acton’s mother disputing her account of childhood homelessness.

The shift came hours before Acton appeared on stage with Barack Obama in Cleveland, where the former president delivered a scorched-earth rebuke of Ramaswamy, saying there was almost nothing he wouldn’t do to get into the limelight.

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“There’s gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,” he told the packed crowd at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium.

Acton also addressed the issue at the rally, telling her supporters: “You probably heard by now, as a young child, my brother and I experienced a lot of child abuse and neglect.

“We moved countless times as kids, and even wound up living in a tent in the middle of winter. And now my opponent has chosen to intentionally exploit my childhood to save his struggling campaign but it’s not going to work.”

The Plain Dealer is Ohio’s largest publication. Its editorial not only condemned the ad but also Ramaswamy’s refusal to answer questions about his policy positions.

On the other hand, Acton, a former director of the Ohio Department of Health who previously served in Republican Governor Mike DeWine’s cabinet, was prepared to lead, it said.

“[Acton] has earned consideration on her own record, her preparation and her commitment to the people she seeks to serve,” the paper wrote.

Ramaswamy’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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