President Trump has lashed out at the criticism of former DOGE architect Vivek Ramaswamy's spot featuring Acton's long-estranged mother disparaging her daughter.
John Legend speaks onstage at The 52nd American Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 25, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rich Polk/Dick Clark Productions
John Legend will throw his hat into the ring for Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy on Monday (Oct. 26), when he is slated to appear with the former state director of the Ohio Department of Health at a rally in Dayton.
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Legend is just one of the bold-faced names Acton will bring out on the road with her in the lead-up to the Nov. 3 midterm election in which she is facing off against tech mogul and former DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy. First up on Sunday (Oct. 25) will be a joint appearance in Akron with Democratic U.S. Senator from Georgia Rev. Raphael Warnock, followed by a rally in Cincinnati on Oct. 28 featuring Queen City natives Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National.
Springfield, Ohio native Legend has long used his platform to stump for candidates and causes, backing former President Barack Obama in 2008 and endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris in her 2024 presidential bid. He also spoke out during that campaign against unfounded, “hateful” racist attacks by then-candidate Donald Trump and running mate and Ohio native JD Vance against the Haitian resident of Springfield.
Legend’s support for Acton comes as Ramaswamy’s campaign has come under fierce bipartisan pushback for a campaign ad in which Acton’s long-estranged mother repeatedly calls her daughter a “liar” while insinuating that Acton’s claims that she was sexually abused by her stepdad, and that the family was homeless and lived in a tent for a period, are untrue.
“It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem,” Donna Arthur says in the ad. “She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.” Acton, 60, has said she hasn’t spoken to her mother since she was 12-years-old, when officials removed her from her mother’s custody. Police arrested Acton’s stepfather in July 1978 on rape charges, with a grand jury later indicting Arthur for engaging in sexual conduct with Acton when she was under the age of 13.
Arthur, who pleaded not guilty to the charges initially, did not appear in court and later fled, along with her mother, and became a fugitive. 13ABC also reported that documents provided by Acton’s campaign include police and court records and a 1982 sheriff’s report in which a park manager confirmed that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, lived at the campground years earlier.
The ad, which many political pundits have called the most disturbing of a very heated political season, has gotten pushback from Acton, who called it “horrible,” “hideous” and “exploitative.” In a statement, her brother, Philip Stearns, dubbed the spot a “despicable low,” saying the attempt to turn “the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point.”
Her former boss, Ohio’s Republican Gov, Mike DeWine, also weighed in, saying the commercial — which the Ramaswamy campaign has poured $4 million into airing in the final week of the race — “deeply, deeply troubling,” saying the campaign “needs to take it down.”
Trump and Vance, however, have given it their full-throated support, with Trump on Thursday repeatedly defending it, including in a Truth Social post, writing, “Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse.” The President went on to call the backlash a “well-coordinated attack” from the press, even as he lambasted fellow Republican DeWine for his comments and encouraged Ramaswamy to keep the ad up.
During a visit to his native Cincinnati earlier this week, Vance said it was “not really my concern” if the ad was appropriate, adding, “I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”
Trump has been hitting the campaign trail very hard over the past few weeks, including visiting deep-red states where Republicans typically feel safe during midterms, with polling showing him reaching historically low approval numbers as Americans struggle with high gas and goods prices amid the president’s unpopular war in Iran and costly tariff regime.
At press time, it did not appear that Legend had commented on the Ramaswamy ad and a spokesperson for the singer had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on his upcoming appearance with Acton. The Grammy-winning singer released his new Pharrell Williams-produced album, Muse, on Friday (Oct. 23).