A video circulated Tuesday shows a woman who identifies herself as Amy Acton’s mother urging Ohioans not to elect the Democratic candidate for governor. "My name is Donna Arthur, and I’m Amy Acton’s mother," the speaker says at the start of the minute-long recording. After describing work in child and family services, Arthur says she loves her daughter but believes the Democratic nominee has been dishonest about her opponent and upbringing.
"She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true," Arthur says, before telling viewers: "Don’t let her become your governor." One post of the video clip by journalist and podcast host Walter Curt's account had been viewed more than 350,000 times on X at the time of writing. The footage, which appears to be in the form of a campaign ad, has since been widely re-shared across the social media platform, with some users describing it as "brutal." The intervention lands as a new ActiVote poll gives Republican Vivek Ramaswamy a 2.8-point lead over Acton, although the wider polling picture remains mixed and ActiVote’s topline advantage for Ramaswamy falls within its reported expected error.
Ohioans will choose a successor to term-limited Republican Governor Mike DeWine on November 3. Voters are being asked to assess an intensely personal allegation alongside a late campaign dominated by attacks on both candidates’ character. Newsweek contacted the Acton and Ramaswamy campaigns via email for further comment on Tuesday morning.
The statements of the woman who identifies herself as Acton’s mother in the widely circulated video are allegations, not independently established facts. Published accounts describe Acton’s childhood as unsettled. Her parents divorced when she was 3, after which she moved frequently with her mother, living in around 18 homes by age 12 and spending one winter in a tent at a campground, WKBN27 reported.
She later moved in with her father and attended Liberty Schools, according to the CBS-affiliated TV station. The recording of the woman who says she is Acton’s mother does not explain when it was made, who financed its production or what specific statement about Ramaswamy prompted the accusation. Social-media posts carrying the clip describe it as a political advertisement, but the available official campaign material reviewed by Newsweek did not verify that provenance.
ActiVote’s survey, conducted from September 27 through October 19 among 400 likely midterm voters, put Ramaswamy at 51.4 percent and Acton at 48.6 percent. Its reported average expected error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The poll also placed Ramaswamy ahead among self-described centrists, 62 percent to 38 percent.
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