Ramaswamy Halts Ohio Ad After Week of Criticism

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has stopped airing a television advertisement that featured his opponent's estranged mother, ending a week of criticism from voters and party officials.

The commercial, which ran to completion before being pulled, was booked to run through Election Day, according to the WEWS-TV sales department. Ramaswamy told reporters Thursday in Dayton that four other advertisements are now airing. "It ran to completion, and we've put up four other ads," Ramaswamy said. He also told a crowd, "I will never quit on this state."

In the ad, Amy Acton's birth mother repeatedly calls the Democrat a liar. Records in Mahoning County show that Acton's stepfather was arrested and charged with raping her when she was 12. Her mother lost custody, and after pleading not guilty, the pair fled. The stepfather remained a fugitive until his death in 2004. Acton said she has not spoken to her mother in 50 years.

Protests followed the commercial's release. Judy Routhier of Westlake, who demonstrated outside a Ramaswamy event, said, "The fact that he would want to re-traumatize a woman who was raped as a 12-year-old is the lowest of the low." Gov. Mike DeWine met with reporters at the Statehouse last week and asked Ramaswamy to take the ad down. Ramaswamy first defended the spot, saying he wanted a debate to defend his record, then said, "Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse."

Acton appeared Friday at the Franklin County Board of Elections, where voters approached her and her running mate, David Pepper. One woman told Pepper she voted for the ticket and was "praying." Acton has since adopted the language of the moment, saying, "Decency, compassion, and kindness are on the ballot this election." Asked about the ad, she said, "It was absolutely despicable to do this," adding that she has not seen her birth mother since she was 12. Darlene Yost, wife of former Attorney General Dave Yost, wrote on social media that as a lifelong conservative she is "unable to vote for a candidate that would even consider the ad."

Acton has kept her focus on costs, saying she wants to make childcare affordable and lower utility bills. She said, "My opponent just doesn't get it." Ramaswamy told reporters Thursday he would like the campaign's final days to be about policy. Ohio voters cast ballots Tuesday, Nov. 3.