WASHINGTON — A jarring new advert in the Ohio governor’s race options Democrat Amy Acton’s delivery mom denouncing her and calling her a liar — but Acton says her mother enabled and supported the man who raped her when she was just 12 years outdated.

Acton’s marketing campaign is now accusing her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy of reaching a “despicable low” in the race by dredging up her painful previous as a youngster intercourse abuse survivor.

In the stunning video, Donna Arthur accused Acton of embellishing her accusations about being sexually abused as a youngster.

“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent—and it’s not easy for a mother to say this—but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past,” Arthur said in the beautiful video clip.

The beautiful video confirmed Donna Arthur denouncing her daughter, Amy Acton.

“She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true,” Arthur went on. “She’s lied her entire life. My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that.”

“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.”

Acton’s camp instantly hit out at Ramaswamy — a tech exec and 2024 presidential candidate — after the video surfaced on-line Tuesday, but it was not clear who was sponsoring the spot.

Ramaswamy’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly remark Tuesday.

“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 twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Philip Stearns, Acton’s brother, said in a assertion launched by her marketing campaign.

Amy Acton’s marketing campaign denounced Vivek Ramaswamy and claimed her mom was an abuse enabler. Zuma / SplashNews.com

“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,” he added.

“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.”

Acton presently has a 3.7 share level edge over Ramaswamy in the newest RealClearPolitics mixture of polls — despite Ohio being deep pink since 2016. The state gave President Trump 53% of the vote in 2020 and 55% in 2024.

The Ramaswamy-Acton race has been one of the nation’s nastiest this yr — with rampant mudslinging and deeply private attacks from both sides.

Ramaswamy’s allies have sought to paint Acton as unstable and insinuate that she has an subject with alcohol. For her half, Acton has called Ramaswamy a “serial liar” and a “scam artist,” refusing to debate him. Her allies have also attacked him over his enterprise affairs. 

Rumors had swirled for some time that Ramaswamy’s allies were planning to highlight Arthur, according to lefty Ohio political web site The Rooster.

Last week, I wrote about how the infamous conman Vivek Ramaswamy had co-opted Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mom for his “October surprise.” Here’s the advert in full. Nasty stuff from Ms. Arthur. pic.twitter.com/Sk2DzpBU0l— Ohio Politics News (@OhioCrawler) October 20, 2026

Acton, who helmed the Ohio Department of Health from 2019 through 2020, has been open about her harsh upbringing, making it half of her political origin story.

The product of an sudden being pregnant, Acton’s mom divorced her father when she was about three years outdated, The Vindicator reported.

“It got out of control. Custody [back then] always went to the mom. My dad tried to get custody of us,” she recounted to the outlet in 2019. “I have so many crazy stories. … I spent so much time being scared as a kid, but also navigating the adult world.”

Acton claimed that Arthur was concerned with completely different males until she lastly married her stepfather, Bud, whom she said had beforehand been accused of molestation. His abuse of Acton led to legal costs being filed against him, and later she moved in with her organic father, according to her account.

“I was lucky that it got bad enough, because it got me out of there,” she recounted, noting how she had been spending winter in a campground around Youngstown, Ohio.

The Democratic hopeful claims Arthur also confronted costs and that her stepfather “skipped town and have not been heard from since.” She has been backed up by her brother in that account of occasions.

Arthur, however, has accused Acton’s organic father, Jerry Stearns, of abusing her when she was pregnant with Acton.

She claimed Acton’s rape and sexual assault accusations against Bud were a custody ploy by Jerry.

Vivek Ramaswamy is going through a robust race against Amy Acton to be governor of Ohio. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect