by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal
October 22, 2026
Ohio’s 2026 campaign for governor made history this week with what’s quickly becoming one of the most notorious political advertisements of all time.
Ohio voters can find it airing on all of our screens, with the campaign of Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy putting $4 million behind its promotion.
It features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent Dr. Amy Acton, who Acton says she has not seen since she was 12 years old, leaving a Mahoning County courthouse where her stepfather was charged in 1978 with raping her.
Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, stayed married to the indicted stepfather, Cledith Arthur, until his death in 2004, after they had fled to Pennsylvania to escape the charges. Arthur herself has a record of being convicted for theft by deception in Pennsylvania in 1996, and animal abuse in 2021.
Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother calls her liar in ad; court documents say otherwise
read more