Vivek Ramaswamy defends ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy on Friday defended his campaign's ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton in the closely watched race for Ohio governor.

Speaking at a campaign stop in northeast Ohio, he said the advertisement, which features Acton's mother calling her “a liar,” had nothing to do with childhood abuse.

“The irony is they’re lying about an ad that is about lying,” Ramaswamy said. “They’re changing the subject because they don’t want to answer for their own failures."

The advertisement features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, criticizing her and insinuating she has mental health issues. Arthur lost custody of her children after her husband, the children's stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton.

Acton is Ohio’s former public health director and has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. She has condemned Ramaswamy for the ad.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about.” she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.

A message seeking comment was sent Friday to her campaign

The ad has stirred significant reaction , including from President Donald Trump, who said it was like “hitting pay dirt.”

At a campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump told the crowd Ramaswamy called him to ask for advice.

“You’ve got to ride with it,” Trump recalled telling Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate. Trump expressed jealousy that he didn’t have such a strong ad to run during his own campaigns.

Other Republicans have been critical.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine criticized Ramaswamy and said the ad should be taken down.

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said Thursday.

According to police and court documents obtained by The Associated Press, Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978.

Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.