US Vice President JD Vance has called on fellow Republicans to stop whining over a controversial attack ad in the Ohio gubernatorial race. The spot features Donna Arthur, the mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar.
Vance, a former senator from Ohio, said he found it a bit disgusting to hear criticism from members of his own party. When asked by BBC News whether he considered the ad appropriate, he replied that it was not his concern, stating that his concern was who would lead the next generation of the US government. He added that he found it a bit disgusting that members of his party were whining more about the ad than about what congressional Democrats want to do to the United States.
Vance campaigned in Ohio for Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, and later defended the ad at a rally. He said that the media and Democrats in Ohio were obsessed because Ramaswamy had the courage to air a TV spot that called Amy Acton a liar.
The ad featuring Donna Arthur was initially posted on social media on Monday evening, and the initial version did not state who paid for or approved it. Ramaswamy confirmed on Tuesday that the ad came from his campaign, which took credit for airing it and paid millions for its display across the state. He pledged to spend $4 million (£2.9 million) on further airing of the ad.
In the ad, Donna Arthur says her daughter has lied her whole life, but it does not mention that Arthur's husband was accused of raping Acton when she was a child. Acton and her brother were removed from their mother's custody when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged in 1978. Acton told The Vindicator that was the last time she spoke to her mother. The Arthurs fled Ohio, and Cledith Arthur was never prosecuted for the rape charge and died in 2004.
The move has drawn bipartisan condemnation. Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, said that turning an alleged sexual assault into a political point was disgustingly low. Acton's team released its own campaign ad on Tuesday in which Stearns recounts childhood abuse and says Amy always suffered the worst. In a 30-second clip, he says: 'Shame on Vivek,' adding that it is the contempt Vivek has for Amy and for Ohio.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called Ramaswamy a bad person and said it was a shame he was getting away with it. Ohio Senator John Husted, who is running for re-election, told the Associated Press that he would not have aired the ad. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is running for state auditor, also opposed the ad, telling WSYX-TV in Columbus that candidates are responsible for their ads and that he probably would not have aired such an ad, but that every candidate makes their own decision.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, when asked about the ad, that he did not know anything about it. He said he had heard that the mother had gone very hard against her daughter and that it was a very unusual situation for a mother to hate her daughter so much, but that he did not think it had anything to do with Vivek.
David Lublin, a professor at American University's School of Public Affairs, told the BBC that political attack ads have become more intense and that the boundaries have been stretched. It is not new for relatives to be used against a political opponent, he said, mentioning family members who testified against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before he was confirmed as health secretary. However, he believes this is of a different order because the estrangement is not due to politics but to a rape charge. Lublin believes that the rhetoric and campaigns of President Donald Trump have helped as a catalyst for the coarsening of American political discourse, mentioning the moment when Trump mocked a disabled reporter in Ohio. Lublin expects Ramaswamy's attack ad to backfire and that it could be a sign that the campaign is desperately trying to turn the momentum in the increasingly competitive Ohio gubernatorial race.
A Democrat has not been elected governor of Ohio in more than two decades, but the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan website that rates and tracks US elections, moved the race from 'leans Republican' to 'toss-up', meaning that neither candidate has a clear advantage.
