Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, posted a campaign ad featuring a malicious attack on his Democratic opponent Amy Acton, starring Acton’s own mother, Donna Arthur. The ad centers on Arthur’s family history: she married Cledith Arthur, who was indicted when Acton was 12 for raping her. Cledith Arthur fled the jurisdiction rather than face charges, and Donna lost custody of her children. As Charles Hilu at National Review reported, Donna Arthur was convicted of theft by deception in the 1990s and accused of animal neglect in 2021.
The columnist describes the ad as “viler” than anything previously seen, calling it a cruel exploitation of a child’s trauma. “There is no betrayal greater than the betrayal of a child by a parent,” the piece argues, criticizing Ramaswamy for weaponizing Arthur against her own daughter.
Ramaswamy defended the ad, saying, “It is an ad from our campaign,” and claimed Acton has been “hiding from those issues” and refusing to debate him. The article concludes by suggesting that if Ramaswamy had “a molecule of decency,” he would remove the ad and apologize, but instead he doubled down.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing