KARMA?

MAGA Candidate Hit With Brutal Blow as Sick Ad Backfires

Vivek Ramaswamy’s attempt to drop an explosive late-race bomb has exploded in his face.

A desperate political gambit by Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate for Ohio governor has spectacularly backfired.

The race took a dark turn when Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy launched a statewide media barrage featuring Donna Stearns Arthur, the estranged mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton.

In the 60-second ad, Arthur calls her daughter a “liar” and warns voters that the 60-year-old physician has “a serious problem” and “needs help.”

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The attack immediately caught the eye of Trump’s inner circle, with Donald Trump Jr. sharing the clip on social media with the caption, “Yikes! Ohio watch this and think about what it means.”

Instead of sinking Acton, the grotesque maneuver has produced a massive wave of revulsion that threatens to doom Ramaswamy’s campaign.

Top election analytics outfit Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved its rating on the open governorship to favor Democrats after previously calling the contest a “tossup.”

Founder and director Dr. Larry Sabato called the rating change the direct result of an “explosive—and desperate—attack ad by Vivek Ramaswamy against Amy Acton.”

The brutal backstory makes the ad even more astonishing. Acton has been estranged from her birth mother since September 1978, when she was just 12 years old.

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The split occurred after her mother defended Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, who was indicted on felony charges for sexually abusing the young girl. Cledith Arthur fled the state as a fugitive following a police report filed by Acton’s biological father and died in Pennsylvania in 2004 without ever facing trial.

Acton torched Ramaswamy for weaponizing her childhood trauma.

“Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me,” Acton said in a statement. “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.”

Acton’s campaign countered by releasing a response ad starring her brother, Philip Stearns, who was also removed from their mother’s custody alongside Acton in 1978.

“Shame on Vivek,” Stearns said in the video. “The contempt he has for Amy is the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.”

While Vice President JD Vance predictably rushed to defend his buddy Ramaswamy, other Republicans publicly distanced themselves.

Republican State Auditor nominee Frank LaRose admitted he “probably” wouldn’t have run it, and incoming GOP officials blasted the move.

Lydia Mihalik, Republican director of the Ohio Department of Development, declared online: “I don’t have to agree with Amy Acton’s politics to believe that exploiting someone’s childhood trauma is wrong.”

Behind the scenes, at least one Republican candidate directly begged Ramaswamy not to air the spot. Veteran pollster Frank Luntz dubbed the scorched-earth ad a “Hail Mary,” adding that it represented an awfully risky, panicked move for a candidate who has already thrown everything at his opponent only to fall behind.

Ramaswamy’s team has been contacted for comment.

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Leigh KimminsReporter

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