Vice President JD Vance said he is disgusted by fellow Republicans attacking Vivek Ramaswamy’s hard-hitting ad on Democrat Amy Acton, arguing the real fight is with the left.
During a campaign stop in Ohio, Vance told reporters he had little patience for Republican criticism of a 60-second spot that features the estranged birth mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton. The ad burst into public view Tuesday, just two weeks before Election Day, and quickly drew fire from both parties.
Vance made clear where he stands. Politics is rough. The focus, he said, should stay on beating Democrats, not scolding a Republican ticket-mate over tough messaging.
The Associated Press reported that Vance spoke in Cincinnati ahead of a rally outside the city with Ramaswamy and Republican Sen. Jon Husted. It was his first public comment on the controversy.
"I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,"
Vance said. He added that whether the spot was appropriate was “not really my concern,” and that he was locked in on backing Republican midterm candidates. “Politics is a tough business,” he said.
Ramaswamy, the billionaire tech entrepreneur running as the Republican for Ohio governor, claimed credit for the ad and said he will spend $4 million to promote it despite the blowback. He did not address the spot in his remarks before Vance spoke at the rally.
The video features Donna Arthur, Acton’s birth mother, calling the Democrat “a liar” and floating suggestions about her mental health. Acton, Ohio’s former health director, has long been open about a painful childhood that included homelessness and abuse. She has said she has not seen her mother since a late-1970s courtroom appearance.
Police and court records described in the reporting show why that history remains raw. Stepfather Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged in July 1978 with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, after Acton’s biological father reported him. The abuse allegedly ran from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to appear in court, became a fugitive, and has since died. Donna Arthur lost custody of her children after the indictment.
Acton’s campaign declined to respond to Vance’s comments. It said the painful backstory is not the centerpiece of her run and posted a video Tuesday of her brother backing the account of living in a tent and suffering abuse.
Not every Republican lined up behind the ad. Husted, who appeared with Vance and Ramaswamy and is locked in his own fight against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, gave the AP a blunt assessment.
"I would not have run that ad,"
Husted said. He did not raise the issue during the joint appearance.
Brown, on Tuesday, called the spot “disgusting.” Nikki Haley, who sparred with Ramaswamy over personal attacks during the 2024 Republican presidential primary, went further on social media the same day.
"It’s a shame he continues to get away with it,"
Haley wrote, calling him “a bad guy.”
At the rally, 20-year-old attendee Michael Wedding said he came partly to see Ramaswamy but left unimpressed by the ad’s approach. Wedding, who said he would vote for Acton and part ways with his large Republican family, called the spot “very, very gross.”
"She was sexually abused as a child, and I thought it was kind of scummy that they would use that in an advertisement. I don’t think it’s right to use her sexual abuse as a kid, or give any sort of platform to that."
Wedding said.
Vance did not dwell on the family history. He went straight at Acton’s credibility as a candidate, saying she “lies about every single one of her positions.” That is the fight he wants Republicans fighting, policy, trust, and the direction Democrats are dragging the country, not internal second-guessing of a campaign commercial.
Ohio’s governor’s race is now a national stage. Ramaswamy is pressing ahead with the ad and a multimillion-dollar buy. Democrats and a few Republicans call the tactic beneath the moment. Vance calls the hand-wringing the real problem.
Two weeks out, the choice for GOP voters is whether to police their own tone or keep the pressure on the Democrat across the ballot. Vance has already picked a side.
When Republicans spend more energy scolding their own ads than stopping the left, they hand Democrats the advantage, and Vance is right to call that out.
