Trump endorsed the advertisement in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
Family dispute becomes election flashpoint
Acton has said she has not seen her mother since 1978. Ramaswamy’s campaign has said it is spending $4 million to promote the advertisement.
He said the controversy could create problems for Republicans beyond the governor’s race. US President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind a controversial campaign advertisement targeting Democratic candidate Amy Acton in Ohio’s closely contested governor’s race, urging Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to continue running it despite criticism from within his own party. Her brother, Philip Stearns, has backed her account of being sexually abused by her stepfather during childhood. The criticism has put Ramaswamy at odds with a prominent Republican in his own state. David Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron, described the advertisement as “campaign malpractice.
Trump endorsed the advertisement in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, while Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, said the campaign should withdraw it. As criticism mounted on Tuesday, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesperson Connie Luck issued a statement saying, “We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother … but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist. Vice President JD Vance, who campaigned alongside Ramaswamy and US Senator Jon Husted, an Ohio Republican, on Wednesday, had brushed aside the backlash.