MAGA Candidate Dealt Humiliating Blow After ‘Sinister’ Ad

CHENEY ORR / REUTERS The newspaper serving Ohio’s most populous city has condemned Vivek Ramaswamy’s “sinister” ad featuring Amy Acton’s mother in its endorsement of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

The editorial board of The Columbus Dispatch has called out Ramaswamy’s “reckless behavior” after the Trump-endorsed Republican revealed he will pay $4 million to air an attack ad that has drawn bipartisan outrage .

In the ad, Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, accuses her of being a “liar” regarding her claims of a troubled childhood—a charge that brought into the spotlight Acton’s alleged rape by her stepfather, whom Arthur defended instead of her own daughter.

The Acton campaign fired back at Ramaswamy, 41, on Tuesday with its own ad , in which Acton’s brother calls the Republican “unfit to lead.” A day later, the capital city daily announced it has seen enough from Ramaswamy, who in April said that Ohio needs a candidate with “a positive vision for our state versus a governor who has none at all other than to complain about what someone else did to her.” “Most revolting and unsettling is a new ‘October surprise’ ad created by Ramaswamy’s campaign and posted on social media,” Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson wrote on behalf of the editorial board.

“It should go without saying that sexual violence against children should not be politicized or taken as lightly as Ramaswamy appears to take it.” The Ramaswamy-created ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother has resurfaced her stepfather’s disturbing actions.

In a statement shared on Facebook on Tuesday, Acton, 60, alleged that her stepfather repeatedly raped her as a child.

She says her mother failed to intervene.

“Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me,” she wrote.

After Acton’s stepfather was charged and indicted for rape in 1978, Acton testified in court against him.

Her mother, however, stood by him.

She subsequently lost custody of Acton and her brother.

The two women have been estranged since that day.

Acton’s stepfather jumped bail, fled the state, and died in Pennsylvania in 2004, without ever being tried.

In the Acton campaign’s 30-second response ad, her brother, Phil Stearns, describes their past.