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# A win for survivors and workers: Amy Acton defeats Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio
- URL: https://www.workersrights.news/amy-acton-wins-ohio-governor-ramaswamy-attack-ad/
- Published: 2026-11-04T04:37:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T04:37:03.000Z
- Description: Even Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Ramaswamy's ad featuring Acton's estranged mother was wrong.
- Author: WorkersRights.News Team
- Tags: Politics

Democrat Amy Acton will be Ohio's next governor. NBC News and Decision Desk HQ projected Tuesday night that Acton, the state's former health director, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire biotech founder backed by Trump. She is the first woman elected governor in Ohio history and the first Democrat to win the office since 2006.

### What happened

Two weeks before Election Day, Ramaswamy's campaign released an ad starring Donna Arthur, Acton's estranged mother. In it, Arthur calls her daughter a liar and suggests she has mental health problems.

Here's what the ad left out. According to court records reported by [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-governor-amy-acton-mother-ramaswamy/?ref=workersrights.news), Arthur's husband, Cledith Arthur, was charged in 1978 with raping Acton when she was between 10 and 12 years old. He pleaded not guilty. Acton and her brother were taken out of the couple's custody. The Arthurs posted bond and left Ohio, and warrants for his arrest were issued at least twice in the years that followed. He died in 2004\. Acton's campaign says that 1978 court date was the last time she saw her mother.

Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, backed her account and called the ad a "despicable low."

The ad first appeared on social media without the required disclosure of who paid for it. Then Ramaswamy claimed it, and his campaign said it would spend $4 million running it on TV and online.

### The rebuke

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who stood beside Acton at daily COVID briefings, told reporters "It was wrong to run this ad" and called on Ramaswamy to take it down, [NBC4 reported](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/ohio-governor-calls-for-ramaswamy-to-pull-ad-featuring-actons-mother/amp/?ref=workersrights.news). He also vouched for her honesty, saying that in his experience working with her every day, she told the truth. He did not pull his endorsement.

Other Republicans broke ranks too. Sen. Jon Husted and Secretary of State Frank LaRose both said they would not have run the ad, and Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson said it should come down.

Trump and JD Vance doubled down. Trump called Acton "fair game," questioned DeWine's loyalty to the party, and said he told Ramaswamy to keep the ad running, the [AP reported](https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/10/22/trump-backs-ramaswamy-ad-featuring-amy-actons-estranged-mother/?ref=workersrights.news). Vance said he was disgusted by Republicans complaining about it.

### So what

Strip away the spin and this was a familiar play against women who report sexual abuse: call her a liar, call her unstable, and find someone close to her to say it on camera. In this case, the person on camera was the wife of the man charged with raping her. Ohio heard that pitch for two weeks, and voters elected the survivor.

**Winners:** Survivors, who watched a woman's childhood abuse turned into an attack line, then watched her win the state's top job. Workers, too. Acton was endorsed by public-sector unions including AFSCME Ohio Council 8, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, which together represent more than 100,000 Ohio workers, according to the [Columbus Dispatch](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/amy-acton-overtakes-vivek-ramaswamy-173722959.html?ref=workersrights.news). (Some building-trades unions, including the state plumbers and pipefitters association, backed Ramaswamy.)

**Losers:** Ramaswamy, who put an estimated $36 million of his money into the race and outspent Acton, according to [The Hill](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6173284-acton-wins-ohio-governor-election/?ref=workersrights.news). And the Trump-Vance bet that voters would reward cruelty toward an abuse survivor.

### What's next

Acton succeeds the term-limited DeWine in January.

### Sources

- [Ohio governor's race takes ugly turn with Ramaswamy attack ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-governor-amy-acton-mother-ramaswamy/?ref=workersrights.news) (CBS News)
- [Ohio governor calls for Ramaswamy to pull ad featuring Acton's mother](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/ohio-governor-calls-for-ramaswamy-to-pull-ad-featuring-actons-mother/amp/?ref=workersrights.news) (NBC4 WCMH)
- [Trump backs Ramaswamy on ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother](https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/10/22/trump-backs-ramaswamy-ad-featuring-amy-actons-estranged-mother/?ref=workersrights.news) (AP, via Cleveland 19)
- [Democrat Amy Acton defeats GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio governor's race](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/amy-acton-democrat-ohio-gubernatorial-race-vivek-ramaswamy-gop-rcna603352?ref=workersrights.news) (NBC News)
- [Acton defeats Ramaswamy in Ohio governor's race](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6173284-acton-wins-ohio-governor-election/?ref=workersrights.news) (The Hill)
- [Amy Acton overtakes Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio governor race, per new poll](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/amy-acton-overtakes-vivek-ramaswamy-173722959.html?ref=workersrights.news) (Columbus Dispatch, via Yahoo)