Acton's Mother Attacks Ohio Governor Candidate as Race Tightens

A video circulating on social media on Tuesday features a woman identifying herself as Donna Arthur, Amy Acton's mother, urging Ohio voters not to elect the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. The apparent political advertisement criticizes Acton's statements about her childhood and Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy as Ohio's November 3 election approaches.

The video emerged as polling showed a closely contested race to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Mike DeWine. An ActiVote survey gave Ramaswamy a narrow lead, while two other recent polls placed Acton ahead, leaving the contest competitive ahead of Election Day.

In the approximately one-minute recording, Arthur introduces herself and refers to her professional background in child and family services before challenging her daughter's account of her upbringing.

"My name is Donna Arthur, and I'm Amy Acton's mother," Arthur says in the video.

Arthur says she loves her daughter but alleges that Acton has been dishonest about Ramaswamy and her childhood. The recording does not identify the specific statements about Ramaswamy that prompted the accusation.

"She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true," Arthur says.

Arthur then urges voters to reject the Democratic candidate.

"Don't let her become your governor," Arthur says.

A post of the video shared by journalist and podcast host Walter Curt had received more than 350,000 views on X at the time of the source report. The clip was widely reshared, with some social media users describing it as a harsh political attack.

The video's origins remain unclear. The recording does not disclose when it was produced or who financed it, and Newsweek reported that the official campaign materials it reviewed did not establish whether it was an authorized campaign advertisement.

Accounts of Acton's childhood have described frequent moves following her parents' divorce when she was 3. According to WKBN27, she lived in approximately 18 homes by age 12 and spent one winter in a tent at a campground before later moving in with her father and attending Liberty Schools.

The allegations in the video have not been independently established by the information presented in the source report.

ActiVote's survey, conducted September 27 through October 19 among 400 likely midterm voters, gave Ramaswamy 51.4% support and Acton 48.6%. The poll reported an average expected error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points, placing the candidates' difference within that range.

The same survey showed Ramaswamy leading among self-described centrists, 62% to 38%. That subgroup result carries greater uncertainty because it relies on fewer respondents than the statewide sample.

A separate co/efficient survey of 925 likely general-election voters, conducted October 5 and 6, placed Ramaswamy at 45% and Acton at 43%. Libertarian candidate Don Kissick received 3%, while 8% of respondents were undecided; the survey's margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.49 percentage points.

Other surveys showed Acton ahead. A Marist University poll conducted October 15-18 among 1,176 likely voters gave her 50% support, compared with 43% for Ramaswamy, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

A Bowling Green State University/YouGov survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted September 29 through October 9, also put Acton ahead, 50% to 44%. Its margin of error was plus or minus 3.95 percentage points.

The Marist survey also found Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown leading Republican Jon Husted by 48% to 44%. The same poll recorded President Donald Trump's job approval at 43%, while 55% disapproved.

In the survey, 40% of respondents described their prospective congressional vote primarily as a vote against Trump, compared with 21% who said their vote was mainly intended to support him.

The Ohio gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 3, when voters will choose a successor to DeWine. The available polling results show differing estimates of support for Acton and Ramaswamy, with neither candidate holding a consistent lead across the cited surveys.