The brother of Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton is condemning an unaired ad being shared on social media that features their estranged mother strongly criticizing her daughter.
Acton has been estranged from their mother, Donna Stearns Arthur, since 1978, when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, faced a rape charge for sexually abusing 12-year-old Acton.
“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,” Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, said in a statement provided by the Acton campaign.
“After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother
stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died," Stearns said of Arthur. "This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants."
A clip of the ad, whichblogger The Rooster shared on social media on Oct. 19, features Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about Acton's upbringing, which included homelessness, neglect and abuse, and urging Ohioans not to vote for Acton. "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem," Arthur says in the ad. "She is a liar. She lies about her past."
Acton told WOSU that her mother is the one lying. "It's awful to see her this way, and it's even more incredible to see that my opponent (Ramaswamy) has taken advantage of someone who's clearly not well, who is older, and this is totally in line with who he is," Acton told WOSU.
The Acton campaign released an ad later on Oct. 20 featuring Stearns saying Ramaswamy is "not fit to lead."
The clip does not identify who paid for the ad, which does not appear to be on television, according to Columbus-based ad tracker Medium Buying.
Ramaswamy campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck did not say whether the campaign cut the ad or whether it would be on TV. In a statement, Luck said everyone who knows Acton best, including her mother, is "clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her."
“We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor," Luck said in a statement.
The ad was shared by Republican operatives on social media,including Donald Trump Jr. who wrote: "YIkes! Ohio watch this and think about what it means."
What does the record show about Acton's childhood?
Acton detailed her troubled home life and mother's neglect in a Youngstown Vindicator article published in August 2019. She described living in "18 or so" homes, including one unfinished basement, before turning 12. She recalled Arthur's many boyfriends and their frequent moves. At one point, they lived in a tent outside of Youngstown, Acton told the Vindicator.
According to Acton, the situation escalated when Arthur's husband and Acton's stepfather sexually abused her at age 12. Austintown Police arrested Cledith Arthur in August 1978 for the rape of a 12-year-old girl "following an investigation initiated by the girl's father,"the Youngstown Vindicator reported at the time.
Cledith Arthur left the state before a conviction. A warrant was issued for his arrest in October 1978 and December 1981, according to court records. He died in 2004 in southern Pennsylvania.
In a campaign video last week, Stearns verified Acton's account of their upbringing.
"I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it. She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me from that, and if she hadn't done that, who knows where I would have ended up," Stearns said.
The recent ad is at least the second time Arthur has publicly accused her daughter of lying. Arthur detailed concerns about Acton's backstory to an anti-abortion group in 2020 while Acton was serving as state health director.
This article was updated to include a statement from Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign and a quote from Acton's interview with WOSU.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@usatodayco.com or @jbalmert on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Amy Acton’s brother slams ad featuring estranged mother
