Ohio’s largest newspaper tossed aside its own endorsement policy to back Democrat Amy Acton for governor, delivering a sharp rebuke to Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy over a campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother.
The Plain Dealer endorsed Acton after Ramaswamy’s campaign released an ad in which her estranged mother called her a liar. In its editorial, the board accused Ramaswamy of using the sexual abuse Acton suffered as a child against her, arguing the spot “crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party.”
The move is a notable reversal. Only months ago, the newspaper said it would stop endorsing candidates for governor, the U.S. Senate and the presidency after readers urged it to focus on down-ballot races. The board said that policy could not keep it quiet when Ohio faces such a consequential choice, though it noted the ad was not the only reason for its endorsement.
The editorial landed just nine days before Election Day.
Ramaswamy has pushed back on the characterization of the ad. He told a local newspaper the spot had nothing to do with childhood or sexual abuse, instead arguing it was about what he called “a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies.”
The Plain Dealer is not the only Ohio paper weighing in. The Columbus Dispatch’s editorial board also endorsed Acton and condemned the ad, after Ramaswamy revealed he will spend $4 million to air it. The Dispatch also criticized a $90 million attack ad campaign by a super PAC supporting Ramaswamy, which portrays Acton’s conduct during the COVID pandemic.
The ad has also drawn criticism from within the Republican Party. Sen. Jon Husted, who is locked in a tight re-election race against Sherrod Brown, told The Associated Press he would not have run the ad. Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters at the Statehouse that the ad was deeply troubling and urged Ramaswamy’s campaign to pull it.
Vice President JD Vance, however, came to Ramaswamy’s defense.
Acton, a former director of the Ohio Department of Health, has accused her opponent of exploiting her difficult upbringing. She has said her family moved many times when she was a child and at one point lived in a tent during the winter, and she charged that Ramaswamy is using her childhood to rescue a struggling campaign. Her campaign has also released its own ad calling out Ramaswamy for making her childhood a campaign issue.
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former 2024 presidential candidate, has the backing of President Donald Trump. Trump appeared alongside him at a rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, on Oct. 3.
The race to succeed the term-limited DeWine is one of the most closely watched contests of the November midterms, and the fight over the ad has become one of its defining flashpoints in the campaign’s final stretch.
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