At two campaign stops on Tuesday, Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy avoided mentioning his campaign’s recent ad that featured Democrat Amy Acton’s mother. At the first event, Ramaswamy did not mention Acton. He spoke for just over seven minutes at Vance Outdoors, a hunting and fishing retailer in Hebron, where he predicted Republicans will win down the ballot on Election Day. He framed the election as a “fork in the road,” conflating Democratic socialist candidates’ election wins with socialism around the world and warned it could “infect” Ohio.
Around 100 Republicans gathered in the middle of the store, and several down-ballot Republicans spoke before him, including the lieutenant governor nominee.At the second event, Ramaswamy directly called out Acton for leaving her post as public health director during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he didn’t mention the ad.Ramaswamy has faced bipartisan backlash, including from Republican Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine, over the ad, which featured Acton’s estranged mother calling her a liar. Acton has said she was abused by her now-deceased stepfather, and her campaign provided court documents to CBS News and other outlets detailing that he was charged with abusing her when she was 12 years old. According to Acton, she has not seen her mother since she and her stepfather appeared for a court date decades ago.
Acton said that her mother and stepfather left town after posting bond.
