Vance backs Ramaswamy’s $4 million Ohio ad despite bipartisan backlash
What’s new: The vice president brushed off GOP criticism as early voting topped 676,000 ballots with two weeks left in the race.
Vice President JD Vance defended Vivek Ramaswamy as the Republican gubernatorial nominee pushes a $4 million ad campaign built around Amy Acton’s estranged mother, despite criticism from Democrats and Republicans in Ohio. Speaking in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Vance said he was more troubled by Republicans criticizing the ad than by the spot itself. Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed it produced the 60-second ad, which features Donna Arthur accusing Acton of lying about her childhood and mental health. Acton, Ohio’s former health director, has publicly described homelessness and abuse as a child and condemned the ad as an attack using trauma from her past. The clash comes in the closing stretch of one of the country’s most expensive governor’s races.