President Donald Trump is defending a controversial ad run by Ohio GOP candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy that features his Democratic opponent's estranged mother, saying the television spot is "very powerful" and slamming the state's Republican governor after he condemned the ad.
"The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good! Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, 'hitting pay dirt,'" Trump said in an Oct. 22 social media post.
In the ad, Democratic candidate Amy Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, accuses her daughter of lying "about her past." Acton and her mother haven't spoken since she was 12, after Arthur's husband was charged with rape for allegedly sexually abusing Acton.
Top Republicans
in Ohio have distanced themselves from the ad. Sen. Jon Husted and Secretary of State Frank LaRose said they wouldn't have run the spot, while Gov. Mike DeWine and former Gov. John Kasich both criticized the ad.
"It was just wrong to run this ad," DeWine told reporters, saying the ad "on its face is deeply, deeply troubling, but when you know the rest of the story, when you know the backstory... it just, to me, makes it more serious. It makes it just more wrong."
Kasich said the ad is "completely inappropriate."
Trump slammed DeWine in his social media post, calling him a RINO, or Republican in name only, and "disloyal to the Republican Party." Vice President JD Vance also pushed back against Republicans criticizing the ad, telling them to "stop whining."
Ramaswamy's campaign has defended running the ad, and Trump encouraged him to "keep it up."
"Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad," Trump said, adding: "Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER."
Acton's campaign put out a statement from her brother, Philip Stearns, criticizing the ad.
“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said.
Contributing: Jessie Balmert, Columbus Dispatch
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump defends controversial ad in Ohio governor's race
