There are your regular negative political ads, and then there are your scorched-earth political ads that have to be seen to be believed. And one such fiery ad just dropped in the increasingly contentious Ohio governor's race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton.
A stunning new video making the rounds on social media Tuesday features Acton's estranged mother looking directly into the camera and urging Ohioans not to vote for her own daughter.
And it is absolutely brutal.
“My name is Donna Arthur, and I'm Amy Acton's mother,” Arthur begins, before delivering a blistering attack that no candidate wants to hear from a family member.
“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem,” Arthur says. “She is a liar.”
Yowza.
Arthur doesn't stop there, saying, “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 closes by telling voters, “Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor.”
BOMBSHELL: Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton’s own mother urges voters not to vote for her daughter. “My name is Donna Arthur and I’m Amy Acton’s mother. I worked at Children and Family Service Association, building one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America. 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. 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. 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. 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.” That’s one hell of an October surprise.
— Walter Curt (@wcdispatch) October 20, 2026
Acton herself has made her difficult childhood a central part of her campaign, including the claim that she was once forced to live in a tent somewhere in Ohio during the winter. In fact, her first television ad of the general election was called “Tent,” and featured Acton saying, “I was 12 and we were living in a tent.”
It's unclear who put out the ad, but it's getting serious pushback from Acton's family.
Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, issued a blistering response Tuesday, accusing their mother of abuse, saying she remained married to the man who sexually abused Acton when she was 12 even after he had been arrested and the children were removed from their custody.
Stearns accused Ramaswamy of attempting to turn his sister's alleged childhood sexual abuse “into a political talking point,” calling the attack “desperate” and “disgusting.”
“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.”
As our sister site, HotAir, notes:
No one has been able to produce any of the records that would verify any part of Acton's story. There is - so far - no record of the children being taken, no record of the couple being charged for skipping town as the doctor claimed they did, and no record of her stepfather's conviction or incarceration.
Cleveland's WOIO reported Tuesday that it had not established that Ramaswamy's campaign was behind the ad and was awaiting comment from the campaign.
Whoever put it together managed to drop one of the most personal, brutal political attacks of the 2026 campaign cycle. And with just two weeks to go before Election Day, the Ohio governor's race is likely to get even uglier as the days tick down.