Ramaswamy ad quietly edited to cut controversial claim by rival's estranged mother: report

Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign has quietly reworked its explosive attack ad against Democrat Amy Acton, cutting a line that didn't hold up.

The new 30-second cut featuring Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, drops her claim that Acton never lived in a tent, journalist David Weigel pointed out on X. What's left is Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about Ramaswamy "with no specifics," Weigel wrote.

The edit follows a report from ad tracker Medium Buying that the campaign told some TV stations Friday to switch to all 30-second spots starting that night. Ohio reporter Karen Kasler later confirmed the shorter version was running. The original ran a full minute.

Ramaswamy isn't backing off the attack entirely. A person close to the campaign told NBC News' Henry J. Gomez that it switched to a shorter spot that still features Arthur. Gomez noted that campaigns commonly run 30- and 60-second versions of the same ad.

The tent line was a centerpiece of the original. Court records show the family did live in a tent, which Arthur disputed in the ad, CBS News reported. FactCheck.org found that records back Acton's account of her childhood, including a 1982 police report in which a campground manager said her stepfather had lived there.

Acton has said she was removed from her mother's custody at 12 after her stepfather was charged with raping her. In a statement this week, she said she was abused from ages 10 to 12 "while my birth mother did nothing to protect me."

The ad sparked bipartisan blowback after it surfaced Monday. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged Ramaswamy to take it down, but President Donald Trump said he recommended keeping it up. Vice President JD Vance, who's from Ohio, defended it at a rally. The campaign planned to put $4 million behind it, according to Axios.

Pollster Mark Mitchell argued Ramaswamy could have quietly dropped the ad once his team realized its mistake, but instead dug in and pulled Trump and Vance into the fight.

"Now he's cutting the ad because of brutal memetics," Mitchell wrote on X.

This cuts out the part where the Mother of the Year claimed Acton didn’t live in a tent at one point, which was provably false. Instead it’s just her saying Acton lied about Ramaswamy, with no specifics
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) October 24, 2026