Ohio Gov.Mike DeWine is calling for Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican he endorsed to succeed him as governor, to stop airing an ad that features the estranged mother of Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.“The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine said in a Thursday news conference he called to address what has become a boiling controversy in the final days of a hostile race.
DeWine, however, reaffirmed his support for Ramaswamy.“Look, today is about the ad, but I’m not — no, I’m not changing my endorsement,” DeWine said when pressed by reporters at the Ohio Statehouse.“I endorse the whole ticket, as you know.
I’m a Republican.I endorse the whole ticket.
On that ticket are some amazing people, almost all of whom I have worked with in the past.”Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton previously served under DeWine as Ohio's health director.Jessica Phelps / USA Today via Reuters The Ramaswamy campaign ad, backed by a $4 million purchase of statewide airtime, features Donna Arthur, who in the minute-long spot calls her daughter a “liar” and urges Ohioans not to vote for her.
Acton has talked about being sexually abused by her mother’s husband as a child.Her brother, Philip Stearns, has corroborated her account, saying in a video for Acton’s campaign that their “birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”Acton has said that she has not seen or spoken to her mother in nearly 50 years.
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