Vivek Ramaswamy is ending his bid for Ohio governor the same way he launched onto the political scene four years ago — with a bet that voters will reward him for unflinching grandiloquence that reflects President Donald Trump’s instincts.
But interviews with voters over three days after the release of the Republican candidate’s ad featuring his Democratic opponent’s ex-mother, Amy Acton, provided insight into the potential dangers of imitating Trump — especially in a year when polls show voters are turning away from the president.
And if Ramaswamy’s approach alienates enough moderate and independent voters, a Republican Party finding its way in the fast-approaching post-Trump era could find itself losing the ground it has gained in a state that not long ago was a perpetual political battleground.
The ad in question shows Acton’s ex-mother calling her own daughter a liar and urging voters to vote her out. Acton said she hadn’t seen her mother since she was 12, when her mother lost custody of her children. Her stepfather was indicted by a grand jury for sexually abusing her. Confronted with these underlying details this week, Trump and Ramaswamy both deflected and emphasized the mother’s allegations.
In CNN’s conversations with voters after the ad was released, the dynamics of the governor’s race were similar to those playing out nationally: die-hard Republicans who still support Trump remain firmly in Ramaswamy’s camp, despite the controversy. They remain angry at Acton for her role in Ohio’s Covid-19 response, during which time she was director of the Ohio Department of Health, and say both campaigns ran negative ads. More moderate and independent voters, however, said they were bothered by the ad and that it changed how they viewed the GOP candidate.
The question that could decide the gubernatorial race in a state Trump won by 11 percentage points in 2024 is how many Republicans Ramaswamy will be able to keep in his camp as controversy engulfs the final days of the race.
Kari Freudenberger, a 47-year-old substitute teacher and social worker from Madeira who describes herself as independent, said after seeing Ramaswamy speak Wednesday in Cincinnati that the ad was “abhorrent and horrible” — and made her less likely to vote for the biotech entrepreneur.
“I don’t care if Ramaswamy’s policies are the best. It shows a judgment of character that I don’t want to see in politics anymore,” she said.
Cherise Wilson, a 48-year-old nurse who lives near Cincinnati and identifies as a Republican, told CNN she was “torn” about the gubernatorial race — and whether it was appropriate to use Acton’s mother in an ad.
“I feel bad for Amy in the sense that she really was a victim,” she said. “But I also don’t want someone who’s running Ohio State to be a victim and be in victim mode. … But I also don’t want someone who’s going to be a complete – can I say a**?”
One independent voter who asked to remain anonymous, a 57-year-old chemist who came to the rally because he works nearby, said he was impressed by Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign and initially excited about running for Ohio governor.
But he said he was put off by advertising aired during the race, including one from Ramaswamy featuring Acton’s mother. He no longer knows who he will vote for.
“I just feel like you don’t even need this stuff,” he said. “Ads are a real drag on both sides.”
The announcement drew immediate criticism, including from the man Ramaswamy is running to replace, two-term Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
“The publicity on its face is deeply, deeply disturbing,” DeWine told reporters Thursday. “But when you know the rest of the story… it makes it even more wrong.”
But prominent Republicans, including Trump and Vice President JD Vance, defended Ramaswamy and the ad. Trump said Friday that even knowing Acton’s history, Ramaswamy should continue to run the ad.
“A mother says, ‘Don’t put my daughter there because she’s a horrible person and a liar,'” Trump said. “Why shouldn’t anyone use it?”
Ramaswamy, at an event Friday and later when speaking to reporters, claimed that “our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood sexual abuse” — ignoring Acton’s story, which she had described publicly before the ad.
When pressed by CNN on whether he doubted that Acton was abused by her stepfather, Ramaswamy reversed course, pointing out that he had never met or spoken to Acton’s mother and repeating his earlier attack on Acton’s credibility.
“I think given the level of political advertising that they’ve used and that the media routinely accepts, I think it’s completely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves,” he said.
Ramaswamy’s approach to controversy is reminiscent of his pugnacious campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Several other candidates were willing to criticize Trump, frequently and harshly, in speeches and during debates, even though Trump chose not to appear. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, was often the president’s most ardent defender. He sought attention and relished clashes with other candidates, often insulting and insulting them in a style reminiscent of Trump’s 2015 rise.
The irony of this explosive chapter in the Ohio gubernatorial race is that it began when the ad was first released, not by Ramaswamy’s campaign, but by an Ohio political blogger, DJ Byrnes, known as “The Rooster.” Byrnes told CNN he obtained the video from a voter who saw it in a poll and saved it.
After the video leaked Monday evening, Ramaswamy’s campaign found itself at a crossroads. Should he distance himself or take responsibility and move towards the incendiary line of attack?
It wasn’t until shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday that the campaign broke its silence on the ad, and even then, its statement did not say whether it was responsible for the spot. About five hours later, Ramasawmy put an end to the mystery.
“It’s an advertisement for our campaign,” he told reporters after a town hall in the Columbus area.
By the end of the evening, her campaign had announced that it would spend $4 million to air the ad, making it clear that it would not back down.
At the campaign stop Friday, Republicans waiting in line to see Ramaswamy said they would continue to support him — even if they had doubts about the ad.
Joan Smith, who was waiting outside a pancake breakfast with Ramaswamy in Strongsville, said she was “not happy” about the ad and hopes Ramaswamy’s campaign will take it off the air.
“But I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” she said. “Politics is a dirty game. You can’t be weak in something like this.”
Still, she said, the publicity was “a shock.”
“It’s bad. I don’t like it. It wasn’t necessary,” she said. “But he did it and it’s over, and people make mistakes all the time, and I don’t think he should have done that.”
At the same event, Joyce Tedrick said she had “no concerns” about the ad.
“I think it’s just because she doesn’t always tell the truth,” she said. “It’s a shame.”
Gn usa
