An Ohio campaign ad built on a mother attacking her own daughter splits the Republican Party, and Trump tells Ramaswamy to keep it running

The most fought over advertisement in the 2026 midterms is not about taxes or crime. It is about a family. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, is running an ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her own daughter a liar. The ad does not mention the rest of Acton’s history, which she has described publicly before. Acton has said she has not seen her mother since she was 12 years old, when her mother lost custody of her children and the man her mother married was indicted on allegations that he sexually abused Acton.

The criticism came first from inside Ramaswamy’s own party, and from the man he is running to replace. “The ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling,” Governor Mike DeWine, a two term Republican, told reporters on Thursday. “But when you know the rest of the story, it makes it just more wrong.” Senator Jon Husted and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Ohio Republicans, also criticized the ad, as did Republicans elsewhere, among them Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. Acton’s campaign answered with an ad of its own, featuring her brother talking about the abuse the children endured. “Shame on Vivek,” the brother says.

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both told Republicans to stop criticizing the ad and get behind it. Trump said on Thursday night that he personally helped convince Ramaswamy to move forward with it, and defended it again on Friday. “A mother is saying, ‘Don’t put my daughter there because she’s a terrible person and she’s a liar,’” Trump said. “Why shouldn’t somebody use that?”

Ramaswamy, at an event on Friday and again with reporters afterward, said the ad “had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse,” and declined to say whether he doubts that Acton was abused by her stepfather. He noted that he has never met or spoken to Acton’s mother and repeated his attack on Acton’s credibility. “I think that in the standard of political advertising that they have used and that the media regularly accepts, I think it is absolutely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves,” he said. The fight has become a test of two things at once in Ohio, which has shown signs of turning competitive again this year: how far a candidate can go in a personal attack, and whether the president’s backing settles arguments inside his party or starts them.