A video circulating on social media featuring the mother of Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Dr. Amy Acton, accuses her of lying about her upbringing and Acton's Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy.
In an interview Tuesday on WOSU's "All Sides with Amy Juravich," Acton, the former Ohio Department of Health director, criticized Ramaswamy and his allies for platforming her estranged mother. The blurry video posted on X by a conservative podcaster and political blogger Walter Curt is styled like a political advertisement.
The video doesn't include the legally required disclaimer for political ads, which says what political campaign committee paid for it. Arthur called Acton a liar and encourages Ohio voters to vote against her.
Acton confirmed the woman in the video is her mother, Donna Arthur, and said her mother is the one who is lying. Acton blamed Ramaswamy for the ad.
"It's awful to see her this way, and it's even more incredible to see that my opponent (Ramaswamy) has taken advantage of someone who's clearly not well, who is older, and this is totally in line with who he is," Acton said.
Acton said the last time she saw Arthur was when she was 12 during her parents' divorce proceedings.
"(I was) 12 years old in a courtroom in Youngstown, Ohio. I went to give her a kiss on the cheek and she turned away," Acton said.
Arthur said in the video she is Acton's mother and claims Acton lied about growing up homeless and that her family lived in a tent at one point. Arthur also claimed Acton is lying about Ramaswamy, but doesn't specify how.
"Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor. If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse," Arthur said.
Acton was previously scheduled to record an interview with Juravich on Tuesday. The full interview, about Acton's wider campaign for governor will air on All Sides Wednesday at 10 a.m.
In a statement, Ramaswamy's campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said the campaign doesn't know what happened between Acton and her mother. The statement does not address who is behind the video.
"We know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor," Luck said.
Luck went on to litigate debates on the campaign trail between the two candidates.
Acton argued the ad came from Ramaswamy because the words her mother used echo campaign rhetoric from Ramaswamy and his allies. She pointed to the name of a PAC affiliated with Ramaswamy "Victors Not Victims" and past comments Ramaswamy made on the campaign trail that she said belittled survivors of sexual assault.
"I just think (Ramaswamy) has gone around saying that I'm just complaining about something that was done to me in my childhood. This was a series of abuse and neglect that went on from the time I was three years old till 12," Acton said. "I have spent my life trying to make sure that no one has to go through this."
Acton's brother responds to advertisement
The accusations by Acton's mother are forcing the first-time political candidate to relitigate a difficult childhood where her stepfather raped her and she was homeless, all while living with her mother.
Court records provided by Acton's campaign confirm that her now deceased stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping Acton when she was 12 years old, and he was previously charged with incest before Acton's mother married him.
Acton said her mother was also charged in the rape case. The couple crossed state lines, moving to Pennsylvania.
Acton's campaign released a statement from Acton's brother, Phillip Stearns, to social media Tuesday. Stearns said he and Acton are estranged from their mother and called Arthur "abusive."
Stearns said their stepfather raped Acton and their mother stayed with him. Acton and Stearns were later removed from their mother's custody.
“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said. “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died. 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.”
Youngstown Vindicator article from 2019 details abuse, neglect Acton faced with mother
When Acton was first appointed director of ODH by Gov. Mike DeWine, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it vaulted her statewide profile. Acton told the story of her childhood abuse to multiple news outlets.
An archived story in the Youngstown Vindicator dating back to 2019 shows Acton has consistently said she had a difficult childhood and at one point lived in a tent while homeless.
In her Tuesday interview with All Sides, Acton repeated in detail what she told the now-shuttered Vindicator in 2019.
In the opinion piece by Todd Franko, the daily newsroom editor at the time, Acton recounted her difficult upbringing, especially after her parents divorced and her mother gained custody.
Acton, who is now 60, said she lived in 18 or so homes in her first 12 years of life, scattered around the north side of Youngstown. Franko wrote that one place was just a basement with bare walls, a sump pump, boxes and a bed.
Franko wrote Donna Arthur, at one point during Acton's childhood, moved the family to California, but Donna Arthur got into a fight with the man she was dating at the time, so they tried to travel back home to Ohio but only got as far as Nebraska.
Acton recounted that instead of keeping her children with her, Arthur got a job to earn money. She met another man and put her children (Stearns and Acton, then ages 8 and 5) on a bus alone back to Youngstown to live with relatives.
Franko wrote that one man her mother dated "finally hung around for marriage." That man, Cledith Arthur, had accusations of molestation in his past, Acton said. He later raped Acton and there was finally enough evidence that officials were called in and criminal charges were filed.
That winter, when Acton was 12 and Stearns was 9, the family lived in a tent at a campground outside Youngstown.
Donna Arthur later lost custody of Acton and Stearns.
Donna Arthur video is the latest example of how nasty the tight 2026 race for Ohio governor has become
Mudslinging is the name of the game this year in Ohio's close races for governor and U.S. Senate. Ohioans are seeing a flood of political advertisements where candidates and their allies disparage, attack and make sensational accusations against their opponents.
While U.S. Senate candidates Jon Husted and Sherrod Brown have extensive voting records with decades in political office, Acton and Ramaswamy don't. Thus, the attacks in the campaign for governor have become more personal.
Ramaswamy's campaign has sensationalized a police call to Acton's home in Bexley in Aug. 2019, claiming she has a drug and alcohol problem. Acton's campaign responded saying she had taken her regular prescription medications that day and drank alcohol that evening before getting into a "domestic dispute" with her husband.
Meanwhile, Acton's campaign accuses Ramaswamy of being a "conman" in his pharmaceutical business ventures where he has amassed enough wealth to become a billionaire.
Acton's campaign attacks Ramaswamy for moving his company Strive Enterprises from Ohio to Texas. Ramaswamy said he stepped down from leadership positions at the company to run for president of the United States in 2024 and denies being part of that decision.
The attacks also focus on Acton's tenure as Ohio Department of Health director during the early days of COVID-19 and Ramaswamy's connections to the data center industry.
Acton recounted to WOSU how the onslaught of attacks began in March with hundreds of millions of dollars spent attacking her character and her family.
"Fact check after fact check levied, but it has never stopped it," Acton said.
Luck, Ramaswamy's spokesperson, said Acton has repeatedly resorted to lying about Vivek and his family, lying about her own record and then hiding from debates and hiding from voters by barring cameras at her own events.
"Everyone who knows her best -- her former boss, her former state colleagues, her fellow physicians, and now her own mother -- are clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her. Ohioans deserve to know that," Luck said.
Acton pointed to a series of ads published by Ramaswamy, including a recent one where a man who was a convicted pedophile was featured.
Acton also pointed to another ad where a woman claimed Acton was responsible for her mother's death during COVID-19. Fact checks found the woman was a political operative and her mother lived out of state when she died in a hospice in Kentucky, not Ohio.
"(Ramaswamy) will do anything or say anything to get ahead. And he is not just out of touch, but he is frankly a danger," Acton said.
Luck said if Acton disagrees with Ramaswamy's statements, she should debate him.
Currently, most election forecasters, including the Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball, rate the race for Ohio governor as a "toss-up." Public polls released on the race find Acton is slightly ahead of Ramaswamy, but often within the polls' margins-of-error.
A Democrat hasn't won the governor's race in Ohio since former Gov. Ted Strickland was elected in 2006.
