Members of Ramaswamy’s campaign are reportedly quietly outraged and on the verge of resigning.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
MAGA candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was warned by his own campaign that his twisted election ad attacking his opponent in the Ohio gubernatorial race would blow up in his face, according to a report.
People familiar with the matter told Zeteo that Ramaswamy, backed by Trump, continued to air the ad targeting Democrat Amy Acton, against whom he is losing in the polls, despite his team’s reluctance.
Democratic candidate for Ohio governor Amy Acton called the twisted campaign ad “despicable.”
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
In the 60-second ad, Acton’s ex-mother Donna Arthur accuses her daughter of being a “liar” and says she “needs help.”
The couple have been separated since 1978, when Acton was just 12 years old and accused her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, of raping her. Donna was at her husband’s side. The case never went to trial; Arthur fled the state and remained a fugitive until his death in 2004.
Zeteo also obtained court records showing that Acton’s stepfather was indicted for molesting his biological daughter a year before Arthur married her.
Vivek Ramaswamy spends around $4 million to air the ad.
Several Republicans involved in or close to his campaign warned Ramaswamy that the ad would make Acton “appear more sympathetic to crucial middle-of-the-road voters and make him look cruel and desperate,” Zeteo reported.
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They warned that the ad, created by Ohio-based Strategy Group, was a really bad idea and would backfire, according to Zeteo.
“It’s siding with the rapist’s protective mother,” said an adviser to President Donald Trump. “That was never a good idea.”
Several influential figures from the Ohio Republican Party, the national Republican Party and Trumpworld privately told Zeteo that the ad was a “disastrous self-inflicted wound.”
Ramaswamy’s campaign was still testing the ad’s effectiveness when local journalist DJ Byrnes, also known as Rooster, leaked it last week.
Trump defended this twisted ad.
The controversial attack ad divided Republicans, although Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended it.
Members of Ramaswamy’s campaign are reportedly quietly outraged and on the verge of resigning, but they don’t want to hurt the chances of other Republican candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Ohio GOP lieutenant governor candidate Robert McColley “expressed reservations” about the ad but “is now forced to publicly defend it on the campaign trail,” two people with knowledge of the matter told the publication.
Several members of Ramaswamy’s campaign also expressed concerns about the mental state of Acton’s estranged mother, who Strategy Group tracked down to create the spot.
Arthur, who last lived in his car, appeared “far away” and “in bad shape” at the time the ad was filmed, a senior Ohio Republican told Zeteo. According to the outlet, she also struggled to give a coherent account of her daughter’s past.
Sources told Zeteo that some team members wanted to take a closer look at the mother’s account, but Ramaswamy himself wanted to continue.
The Daily Beast reached out to a representative of Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment.
The Ohio gubernatorial candidate doubled down on his advertising during a campaign stop Friday.
“What we need is a governor at the top, just like President Trump is for our country — a governor of this state who stands strong, who says we will not play on your terms,” Ramaswamy said. “We will stand up for what we know to be right and true, and we will not apologize for it. »
Acton called the campaign’s twisted advertising “despicable.”
“I never attacked his family. I would never do that,” Acton said of his opponent. “You can see there are so many people who have experienced trauma and abuse in their lives. »
Meanwhile, Trump informed Ramaswamy that “you gotta roll with it.”
“Forget it, look up and say, ‘Thank God, so much,'” Trump said at a rally in Iowa on Thursday.
Vance downplayed the bipartisan reaction to the ad.
“When I see Republicans, people in my party react so strongly, especially elected officials, they have the opinion you want to have on this ad,” Vance told reporters at a press briefing in Ohio on Wednesday.
“If you think it was too hard, say it was too hard. If you think it wasn’t hard enough, say so. But I have to admit that I’m a little disgusted when I see Republicans across the country complaining more about this ad than about what Democrats in Congress and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”
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