A new campaign ad features Donna Arthur, the mother of Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, urging voters not to support her daughter’s campaign. In the ad, Arthur accuses Acton of lying about parts of her past, including claims that the family once lived in a tent outside Youngstown.
“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent — and it’s not easy for a mother to say this — but Amy has a serious problem,” Arthur says in the ad. “She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.”
Arthur continues: “My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that.” She closes the ad with a direct appeal: “Don’t vote for people who lie. Don’t let her become your governor. If you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself. It will only get worse.”
It is not publicly known who paid for or produced the ad.
Acton’s Campaign Responds
Acton’s campaign posted a response on her website in the form of a statement from her brother, Philip Stearns, which frames the ad as an attack orchestrated by her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy.
“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said. “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core.”
Acton’s Earlier Account
The dispute centers on a 2019 interview in which Acton described a difficult childhood, including a period when her mother put Acton and her brother, then ages 8 and 5, on a bus alone to live with relatives while their mother remained elsewhere. Acton has said her mother later married a man who molested her, that criminal charges were filed against the stepfather, and that the family was living in a tent that winter outside Youngstown.
Acton, who said she was 12 at the time, has said the last time she saw her mother was at a courthouse appearance connected to those charges. “In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away. That was the last time I ever saw her,” Acton said in the 2019 interview. She has also said her mother and stepfather skipped bond afterward.
A search of Mahoning County court records has reportedly found no record of criminal charges filed against Donna Arthur or her husband in the county, according to one source cited in reporting on the ad. The discrepancy has not been independently confirmed or further explained by either campaign.
Where the Race Stands
The ad surfaces in the final stretch of a close governor’s race. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Acton leads Ramaswamy 48.2 percent to 44.5 percent, a margin of 3.7 points.
