The Ohio governor's race has been roiled by a Vivek Ramaswamy ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged biological mother, Donna Arthur, calling Acton a "liar." Acton has long said she was removed from her mother's custody at age 12 after her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping her. Court records released this week by the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts confirm: Cledith Arthur was arrested in July 1978, indicted by a grand jury that September on a rape charge, skipped his October 1978 court date, and was never tried. Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in Pennsylvania in 2004.
The ad was intended to undermine Acton's credibility on the eve of the election. But the records release backfired on Ramaswamy, drawing bipartisan condemnation—including from prominent Republicans—and even promotion by Donald Trump and JD Vance became a liability as fact-checkers confirmed Acton's account.
Court records show Cledith Arthur, Amy Acton's stepfather, was charged and indicted in 1978 for raping Acton when she was 12, then fled the state with her biological mother before trial. He was never tried and died in 2004. The claim she was abused "from 9 to 12" is not fully supported—the formal complaint covered December 1976 to April 1978 (ages 10-12). This is a sarcastic reply mixing unrelated federal arrest numbers (Los Angeles vs. Sacramento) and a settled 2017 judicial case. No coherent factual claim worth checking.
The State Department did update Middle East travel advisories, citing increased Iranian-supported Houthi regional aggression.
This post quotes the State Department's own language: the advisories were updated to reflect the threat of increased Iranian-supported Houthi regional aggression. This is a joke/wordplay—"piece of the middle east" vs. "peace in the middle east"—not a factual claim.
BSo an ad attacking Amy Acton just blew up in Vivek Ramaswamy's face, and the receipts are court records from 1978.
BOkay, walk me through this, because this has been the nastiest race in the country.
BRamaswamy ran an ad with Acton's own biological mother calling her a liar on camera.
BHer own mother said that?
BThe mother Acton was taken away from when she was twelve, after her stepfather was charged with raping her.
BAnd the ad just aired with that woman as the character witness.
BRight. So here's the part that changed everything—the court records came out this week from Mahoning County.
BCledith Arthur arrested July 1978, indicted that September, skipped his court date in October, never tried.
BAnd Acton's been telling the same story for decades.
BSnopes checked it. Their conclusion: everything matched her claims. FactCheck.org says the documents corroborate key elements.
BSo Ramaswamy's big closing argument was just demolished by the public record.
BAnd by his own party. Prominent Republicans have denounced the ad. The Washington Post says both parties are condemning it.
BI want to give him the benefit of the doubt—maybe he genuinely believed the mother.
BCome on, Bella. You don't put an estranged parent on camera calling a candidate a liar without checking the background.
BHold on—she's a real person with a real story, and maybe that story seemed credible.
BThe woman stayed married to the man for decades after he fled prosecution. That's who they put on screen.
BBut the fact that Trump and JD Vance promoted this thing—
B—is now a giant liability. Exactly. They boosted an ad that backfired completely.
BThe one detail I'll note: the claim she was abused 'from nine to twelve' isn't fully supported. The formal complaint covers ages ten to twelve.
BWhich doesn't change the core story. The stepfather was indicted for rape and never faced trial.
BThe bigger question is what this does to the race.
BI think it helps Acton. She comes out looking vindicated after being attacked in the most personal way possible.
BOr it just makes Ohio voters exhausted and disgusted with both.
BCould be both. But Ramaswamy ran this ad to show Acton is a liar, and the evidence says she's not.
BA mother calling her daughter a liar in a political ad—it's a lot.
BAnd now Acton's brother put out a statement: 'Our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died.'
BThat's the line that ends this story. There's no recovering from that.
BFinal one, and it's a New Republic investigation getting traction: Jared Kushner's phone was reportedly hacked.
BAnd the claim is that the hack exposed payments from Middle Eastern dictators.
BImportant caveat: this is unverified. The article's out there, but no major independent source has corroborated it.
BStill worth talking about because of who Kushner is—Trump's son-in-law, running a massive investment firm with huge Middle East money.
BThe story fits a familiar pattern: private equity, foreign wealth, no transparency.
BIt's also the kind of story that either blows up in days or fades completely. Right now, it's just one report.
BBut if it's true, the questions are enormous. Who hacked him, and who bought him off?
BThe story's built on leaked materials, according to New Republic. No State Department confirmation, no second source stepping up.
BFor now, treat it as a very serious allegation, not a verified fact.