Gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, alongside US President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign rally for Ramaswamy and US Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) in Youngstown, Ohio, US, October 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s chief strategist reportedly presented a new attack as a "stroke of genius" even though it featured Democratic rival Amy Acton's estranged mother, who had defended her daughter's alleged abuser.
D.J. Byrnes, author of the Ohio political newsletter The Rooster, identified the strategist as Jai Chabria on Wednesday.
The ad, which began circulating on social media late Monday, shows the mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar, CBS News reported.
“I knew it was a Ramaswamy production because his chief strategist, Jai Chabria, had been running around Columbus for at least two weeks bragging about the ad as the stroke of genius that would put his deplorable runt of a candidate across the finish line,” Byrnes wrote.
Ramaswamy campaign manager Jonathan Ewing told Axios, “This is a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton. The people who know her best keep warning Ohioans about her.”
Sources close to the campaign told Axios the ad tested well with “persuadable” voters, prompting a $4 million statewide push that began Tuesday night as Ramaswamy trails, with a mid-October Marist survey showing Acton ahead 50% to 43% among likely voters.
In the spot, Donna Arthur says, “It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy was a serious problem. She is a liar; she lies about her past.”
Donna Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, was charged in 1978 with raping Acton as a child and fled the state before trial, The New York Times reported.
The governor’s race took an “ugly turn” with the ad, CBS News reported, and Acton’s campaign and her brother, Philip Stearns, denounced it as a “despicable low.”
“Our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died,” Stearns said in a statement. “This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”
Acton said in a Facebook statement Tuesday, according to Axios, “I’ve always known that she was deeply sick and unwell, and it’s sad to see Vivek Ramaswamy exploit her all for his own political gain.”
CBS News reported that the ad first appeared without the legally required disclosure of who paid for it. Ramaswamy’s own admission answered questions about the ad's origin when he told reporters Tuesday it was “an ad from our campaign,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Earlier that day, Ramaswamy spokeswoman Connie Luck said in a statement, “We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth.”
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said, “Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is, if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”
Quoting his own post from last week, Byrnes wrote, “This ad will backfire on them spectacularly, because it animates what Ohio voters already know to be true about Ramaswamy despite his team spending more than $100 million in this race.”
“Thankfully, only 13 days remain until Ohio’s beautiful hog voters escort [Ramaswamy] into the dustbin of history, never to be collectively thought about ever again,” Byrnes wrote Wednesday.