“Vivek, Thank You”: Ramaswamy’s Shocking Ad is Galvanizing Ohio Democrats

Supporters during a campaign rally at Cleveland Public Auditorium featuring former President Barack Obama, Senate candidate, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton. Jeff Swensen/Getty Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. At a crowded rally in Dayton, Ohio Monday night, celebrity singer John Legend characterized Vivek Ramaswamy as “desperate” and morally depraved. “He will stoop lower than you thought possible,” Legend said of Ramaswamy, the billionaire biotech entrepreneur and Ohio’s Republican candidate for governor. Legend was, of course, referencing Ramaswamy’s controversial advertisement against Democratic opponent Dr. Amy Acton. It features Acton’s 82-year-old mother, who lost custody of her children after her husband was indicted in 1978 for raping Acton at the age of 12. Despite warrants for his arrest, the stepfather and Acton’s mother fled Ohio together and Acton never saw them again. But in Ramaswamy’s ad, Acton’s mom, Donna Arthur, calls her estranged daughter a “liar” who isn’t fit to be governor. “When Vivek Ramaswamy hears of an indicted child abuser who fled the state rather than face charges, instead of siding with the victim, he takes the side of the abuser. Dayton, do we want Vivek Ramaswamy to be in charge of protecting Ohio’s children? Do we want a man with this sort of depraved moral compass to lead our state?” asked Legend, an Ohio native. A few Ohio Republicans have offered tepid criticism of Ramaswamy. Outgoing Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said the media spot was “deeply, deeply troubling.” And incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, who faces a tight Senate race against Democrat Sherrod Brown next week, said he “would not have run that ad.” But nationally, party leaders doubled down: Vice President JD Vance told Republicans to “stop whining” about the ad. President Donald Trump rebuked DeWine, accusing him of being, “as usual, disloyal to the Republican Party.” “He probably wants a Dumocrat to win,” Trump wrote on social media about DeWine. Waiting in line for Monday’s rally, several Democratic voters said they believe Ramaswamy’s advertisement indeed may have that effect, helping Ohio Democrats like Acton best their Republican opponents in already-tight races. A Dayton-area history teacher (who asked me not to publish her name because it could get her in trouble with her school) said the advertisement was “slimy.” But in a way, she was also grateful that Ramaswamy was airing it publicly. “It’s making people pull away seeing that half the Republican Party is like that. You have a president who was found liable for sexual crimes, and Vivek, who is exploiting victims of sexual crimes,” she said. “Vivek, thank you.” “I hate that she had to re-live that, but there’s no better way for them to show people who they really are,” added Jennifer Voudris, another rally-goer. Democrats at the rally told me about anecdotal signs giving them hope that Ohio may elect its first Democrat to statewide office since 2018: One man told me he saw a long-time Republican neighbor post on Facebook that he could no longer vote for Ramaswamy in good conscience after seeing the advertisement. Multiple people flagged that there had been strong turnout this week for early voting, which statistically favors Democrats. Theresa Gasper, a former Republican turned Democrat precinct captain for Beaver Creek, Ohio, said that after the ad came out she quickly ran out of her anti-Ramaswamy yard signs. She had been offering them for a suggested donation of $15, with all proceeds going to her local Democratic Party. When the 250 signs she made weren’t selling, she instead listed them for free. “They became really popular when I offered them for free, but after THE ad last week, the rest went really fast,” Gasper explained. She emailed me later to let me know she didn’t ultimately make it inside the event. The venue—a former industrial coal depot that is now a popular spot for concerts and weddings—had exceeded its fire capacity. Perhaps slightly more scientific than yard sign litmus tests and one-off Facebook posts, recent polls have also shown Acton ahead. A large-sample Marist survey conducted from October 15 to 18 showed Acton ahead of Ramaswamy by seven points. An October 15 to 19 poll by Fox showed Acton ahead by two. Those were both before the advertisement, which began circulating October 20. But a Redbox Research poll conducted October 20 to 23 saw Acton up by four points. David Niven, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati, said he thinks Ramaswamy’s attack advertisement may drag him down even more. He also mentioned Husted could be collateral damage amid the GOP fallout. “There is a reason so many Republican candidates distanced themselves from this ad—which is an extraordinary step to take in a party that for years has perfected the right to remain silent and look away from the outrageous,” said Niven. When Acton took the stage towards the end of the rally, she didn’t want anyone to “look away.” “You probably have been hearing by now that I had a pretty rough childhood growing up. My brother and I experienced a lot of abuse and neglect,” she said, before pointing out that she likely wasn’t the only person in the room who had experienced something similar. “Everyone here knows that we all see a thing or two in our lives, if not in our childhood. None of us gets out of this unscathed,” said Acton. Just before the rally officially started, I had spoken to a man named Justin who said he also experienced childhood sexual abuse. Now in his 40s, Justin said he was six when his pastor raped him. He said the Ramaswamy advertisement filled him with rage—and yet another reason to vote. “I just want to hug Amy.”