Analysis: Ramaswamy seems to criticize Acton for being a victim of child sex abuse

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, has had to walk back or try to explain away any number of controversial positions that would likely have not sat well with Ohio voters.

It’s a pretty long list.

On and on it goes. It is as if he had one of those Etch A Sketch toys we had as kids. Draw a picture on the screen and when you want it to go away, you just pick it up and shake it — or in his case, delete the post.

“He would seem to be all hat and no cattle, but the hat keeps slipping off his head,” said David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.

“You would think that if you are going to tie yourself to controversial issues, you would at least make them issues that are popular,” Niven said.

But this time, Ramaswamy has talked himself into a mess he can’t erase. He went after the Democratic candidate for governor, former Ohio Health Department director Amy Acton, for being the victim of sexual abuse as child growing up in Youngstown.

Here’s what he said in an undated video of a campaign speech he posted to his X account.

He said he has “a positive vision for our state versus a governor who has none at all other than to complain about what someone else did to her.”

As a child, Acton and her mother were forced to live in a tent on the streets of Youngstown because of sexual abuse inflicted on her by her stepfather. She has had therapy for years because of this trauma.

Phil Stein, Acton’s campaign manager, fired back with a written statement.

“It is shameful that Ramaswamy’s allies are attacking someone for seeking treatment after being sexually abused as a child,” Stein said. “As a doctor, as a survivor, and as a mom, Amy is disgusted that Vivek would do anything but stand with childhood survivors of sexual assault.”

Neither Ramaswamy nor his campaign staff responded to WVXU’s request for comment.

Ramaswamy fell into the Ohio governor’s race by accident. What the Cincinnati native wanted was the U.S. Senate seat vacated by JD Vance becoming vice president.

Republican Mike DeWine, a lame duck governor, could have done that, but he instead placed Jon Husted, his lieutenant governor, into that office.

And, after a brief stint in Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, Ramaswamy once again got his Etch A Sketch out, gave it a good shake and drew a new portrait of himself as a candidate for governor.

At the time, Donald Trump was just coming off an 11 percentage point win in Ohio. Being a Trump acolyte seemed like a winner.

But that was then. This is now.

Currently, Trump’s favorability numbers in Ohio are under water. Being a MAGA candidate in any statewide office is more hindrance than help.

Which means that is probably not a good time to be picking fights you can’t win.

Read more:

• Analysis: Ramaswamy called Medicare and Medicaid 'a mistake.' Was that a mistake?
• Analysis: Vivek Ramaswamy says Ohio has 'too many' universities
• Analysis: Vivek Ramaswamy goes silent on past demands to release Epstein files