Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s highly controversial adad featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Democrat Amy Acton, calling her daughter "a liar" has some of his own allies "recoiling," according to Politico’s Playbook.
Playbook reported that supporters of Ramaswamy’s bid to replace Gov. Mike DeWine want no part of the ad while the candidate defends it. Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed it paid for the spot, which appeared online without a disclaimer leading to some early confusion.
According to the report, "... the backlash crossed partisan lines. Meghan McCain blasted the attack as 'dastardly,' while Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee’s longtime aide Dan Hauser deleted his own post sharing the video after learning more about Acton’s past."
Noting "the ad brought attention to Acton’s family history," Politico reported Acton wrote on Facebook that she was sexually abused by her stepfather between the ages of 10 and 12, and that her mother “did nothing to protect” her.
“It’s so gross to forsake family members for politics,” a Republican operative close to the Ramaswamy campaign admitted to Playbook. “I think it’s bad. It’s just morally bad.”
The operative observed the video "won’t play well" with women “because a lot of women are gonna say, ‘What normal mom would participate in an attack ad on their own child?’”
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who called Ramaswamy “scum” in 2023 after he brought up her daughter at a GOP debate, responded to the ad by calling him “a bad guy,” Playbook reported.
“If Republicans are failing to lay out a reason to come vote for them and saying, ‘Here’s what I, as a candidate, am for, what I am going to do to make your economics better,’ there’s a good chance they’re going to lose,” a senior GOP operative familiar with MAGA Inc.’s thinking told Playbook.