COLUMBUS, Ohio. — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is telling Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy to pull down his controversial ad featuring Democrat Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother. He is not pulling his endorsement, though.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
After calling the Statehouse press corps to the Capitol Rotunda Thursday morning, the Republican governor condemned the political advertisement, which has drawn bipartisan backlash over the past week.
"It's deeply, deeply, deeply troubling," DeWine. "It needs to come down; It's just wrong to continue to run it."
The ad features Donna Arthur, Acton's birth mother, who tells voters not to elect her daughter, saying she "lies about her past":
Acton hasn’t had contact with her mother since leaving the courthouse once her stepfather was charged with raping her, the candidate said.
Mahoning County Court records we obtained show that Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with sexually abusing Acton, who was 12 years old at the time. The abuse went from ages 10 to 12, she said. Her mother lost custody, and after pleading not guilty, documents show the stepfather posted bond and fled, becoming a fugitive of the state until his death in 2004.
DeWine emphasized his career of trying to protect victims and children as a prosecutor, as well as attorney general.
"During that time and getting ready for trial, we spent a lot of time with the rape victims and I think that's the first time that I really had some real sense of the trauma that a rape victim suffers: the pain, how tough it was for them," the governor said. "The pain, how tough it was for them. "These were very, very brave women that we worked with... And so my admiration for them, I can't even describe it."
Despite his strong words, he is backing Ramaswamy.
"Today it is about the ad, but I'm not, no, I'm not changing endorsement..." DeWine said. "I endorse the whole ticket. In that ticket are some amazing people, almost all of whom I have worked with in the past."
Here's what Ramaswamy had to say about the ad:
RELATED: Ramaswamy takes responsibility for controversial ad featuring Acton's estranged mother
DeWine said he wanted to focus on the ad.
"People are voting right now as you and I are talking," DeWine said. "They've been voting for some time, so what Mike DeWine thinks or who he endorses is pretty irrelevant."
He wouldn't say if he had spoken to either Ramaswamy or Acton.
"How do you reckon with yourself still endorsing a candidate that would put out this ad knowing the full context of what happened to Dr. Amy Acton?" I asked DeWine.
"Look, I believe, as I just said, that people I've worked with on that ticket are very, very good people," he responded. "Look, I'm a Republican, and so I did my endorsement a few months ago. What I wanted to talk today about is this ad."
He defended Acton's credibility as he continued to denounce the ad.
"In regard to telling the truth, my experience with her and working closely with her every single day was that she certainly told the truth; that's my experience," DeWine said.
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
