Vivek Ramaswamy Pulls Attack Ad With Amy Acton’s Mother 

After drawing the ire of damn near everybody, Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign has stopped airing its controversial ad featuring the mother of his gubernatorial rival, Amy Acton. 

According to AP, Ramaswamy announced at a campaign rally on Thursday that the ad has finished its run on airwaves. This is a significantly shorter run than what the campaign intended. While the campaign originally put $4 million behind the ad, AdImpact data showed it spent roughly $1 million.

If you’ve somehow missed all the coverage about Ramaswamy’s ad, I’ll give you the CliffsNotes. When Acton was a child, she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather. Her stepfather was arrested and charged with rape, but he fled the state before he could be prosecuted. Acton was removed from her mother’s care, and her mother, Donna Arthur, stood by her husband. 

Ramaswamy’s ad recruited Donna Arthur and brought up all that sordid history, accusing Acton of lying about what happened to her. 

“She’s lied her entire life. My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” Donna Arthur, Acton’s mother, says in the ad. “People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that.”

Moves like this are why I don’t understand Republicans and the people who vote for them. For the last decade, the GOP has shown outright contempt for the basic concept of decency. I guess Ramaswamy thought that since President Donald Trump got elected despite being liable for rape, no one would care that he’s accusing his opponent of lying about being sexually assaulted. 

Ramaswamy made the fatal error of any Black or brown pick-me: he forgot he’s not white. No matter how much he advocates for whiteness and basks in its proximity, they will never see you as one of them. Had a white man run this ad, there would still be outrage, but there would probably be more conservatives defending it. 

We need only look at the sitting president and the number of white men who have said and done heinous things, but still get elected. Heck, if Ramaswamy kept it anti-Black and brown, he would still have the GOP fawning over him.

An Indian man going after a white woman, though? That just ain’t gonna slide, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. Is it messed up? Of course! But America is always going to America, y’all. 

While Democrats were predictably disgusted by the ad, there has been a surprising surge of pushback against the ad by Republican politicians and voters. It should come as no surprise that Trump and Vice President JD Vance have supported the ad, telling Ramaswamy that Acton is “fair game.”

Crazy that the same party that’s all about “protecting our daughters” when it comes to trans people simply existing has none of that energy when it comes to exploiting a woman’s sexual assault for political gain. 

GOP operatives are quietly fretting that Ramaswamy may have cost himself the governor’s seat with the ad, as his polling has dropped in the wake of the backlash. While the ad is objectively disgusting, it’s high-key kind of funny that Ramaswamy may have pulled off a self-inflicted October surprise. 

SEE ALSO:

Vivek Ramaswamy Campaign Hits Hell’s Basement With Attack Ad

Mystery ‘News’ Site Is Helping Vivek Ramaswamy Push Nasty Attack Ad