Vice President JD Vance of Ohio backs Vivek Ramaswamy amid attack ad blowback

Vice President JD Vance is backing Ohio Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy over an attack ad against Democratic opponent Amy Acton featuring her mother, estranged since a rape charge by Acton against her stepfather when she was a child. Vance said he is disgusted by other Republicans whining about it.

In a swing of his own home town Cincinnati Wednesday, Vance touted dozens of indictments for food assistance fraud and pumped up Ohio’s GOP supporters at a campaign rally. But the comments on the ad garnered the most attention. The ad has drawn sharp criticism across the political spectrum.

“I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance told the campaign rally crowd.

Ramaswamy takes responsibility for controversial ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother

“Politics is a tough business,” he added, “and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is: if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”

The attack ad controversy

In the ad, Acton’s mother Donna Arthur repeatedly calls Acton a liar. Acton was removed from Arthur’s custody in the late 1970s, after her husband Cledith Arthur was charged with raping Acton, who was 12 years old at the time. After being released on bond, the Arthurs fled the state.

Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement insisting “Vivek wants the election to focus on how to solve (rising costs),” and called Acton a “serial fabulist” but didn’t take credit for the ad’s production. Later that day, Ramaswamy again said he would “love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues” but acknowledged his campaign produced the ad.

Ramaswamy’s campaign told Axios it plans to spend $4 million running it statewide.

Acton’s campaign quickly released an ad featuring her younger brother Phil Stearns criticizing Ramaswamy for trying to score political points off the abuse they both suffered as children.

“Shame on Vivek,” he says, “It’s the contempt he has for Amy it’s the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.”

In the Ramaswamy campaign’s initial statement and later speaking to reporters, he’s justified the ad by blaming Acton for refusing to debate him. Vance went a step further.

“People have called Vivek Ramaswamy a murderer in some of the advertisements ran against him,” Vance claimed at the food assistance fraud event.

It’s not clear to which advertisement Vance was referring, and an email to his press contact seeking clarification got no answer.

Ramasmway’s campaign didn’t respond to similar requests either. But on social media, Ramaswamy shared two clips of Vance making the claim describing it as “hard facts” and “a strong message to Republicans & a strong reminder to everyone.”

Advertisements produced by Acton’s campaign, and by the Democratic Governors Association Super PAC backing her, criticize Ramaswamy’s tenure as a pharmaceutical executive for publicly lauding an Alzheimer’s drug that eventually proved ineffective. But Ohio Capital Journal was unable to identify any ads which suggest Ramaswamy is a murderer.

Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother calls her liar in ad; court documents say otherwise

SNAP fraud

Wednesday morning, Vance joined several Department of Justice officials in Cincinnati to announce indictments against 40 people who have allegedly defrauded SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps. Those defendants allegedly stole $42 million from the program.

The biggest share of that total came from charges against Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan who allegedly stole $29.7 million from the program. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, they used stolen account information from Ohio and other states to run false transactions at their Illinois stores.

Vance, however focused on a case out of Atlanta against Merecedes Reshard New, who goes by Shawty Dred on social media. They brought out a tv to show a clip of Reshard with a private jet.

“You broke, mother——,” New says in the clip, “Get you a jet. Get you a jet.”

“The simple fact is,” Vance said, “this is a man that we have connected to $4.4 million dollars in fraud against the SNAP program. A guy who is quite literally taking food from the mouths of children, so that he can enrich himself.”

According to a DOJ press release, New was able to operate for six years and allegedly controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts. He was arrested last week.

“SNAP exists to help hungry children eat,” Vance said. “It does not exist to provide private jets to a guy like Shawty Dred.”

But while the administration is tackling fraud in the program it has also made significant changes that will lead to reduced payments, primarily in Ohio’s urban counties.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states have to shoulder a greater share of the burden based on error rates.

In a July 2025 statement, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins praised the changes for “tackl(ing) the fraud and waste that has run rampant” in the program.

Ohio lawmakers agreed to cover some of the shortfall, but the way they chose to divvy up the dollars leaves multi-million dollar shortfalls in Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton counties.

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