Ohio Governor Urges Ramaswamy to Remove Amy Acton Attack Ad: 'Just Wrong'

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to take down advertisements featuring the mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton.

DeWine, a Republican, told reporters it was “wrong” for the Ramaswamy campaign to run the advertisement, which has sparked a wave of bipartisan criticism toward the GOP candidate as he faces a competitive race.

“I would urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down. It’s just wrong,” he said, according to Columbus-based news station WCMH.

He also said of his endorsement of Ramaswamy, “What Mike DeWine thinks, or endorses, is pretty irrelevant. What’s not irrelevant is this ad. This ad is relevant, it’s wrong. It needs to be taken down.”

In the ad, Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, accused her of lying and urged Ohio voters not to elect her in November.

Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, has been open about facing sexual abuse and homelessness during her childhood. Her brother, Philip Stearns, wrote in a statement released by the Acton campaign that their mother lost custody of her children after her husband, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing Acton. Stearns said the pair were together until his death.

Newsweek reached out to Ramaswamy's campaign for comment via email.

This is a breaking news story.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Gray R. Thomas