Vivek Ramaswamy, the forty-one-year-old Republican businessman running for Ohio governor, has made multiple headlines recently, as his campaign released an attack ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton. The ad has Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar, but does not mention that the two have been estranged since 1978. Acton was removed from her mother’s custody at twelve, after her stepfather was charged with sexual assault.The Lincoln Project, a self-described pro-democracy organization with over two million followers on X, hit back with a new ad titled Sick. The group considers its fight against Trumpism far from over. They captioned their social media post,“VIVEK IS SICK,” they shared.(The above statement reflects The Lincoln Project’s characterization of Vivek Ramaswamy’s conduct and does not constitute an endorsement of that characterization by this publication. Any opinions expressed are attributed to their respective sources and are included solely for reporting.)On The Joy Reid Show, Stuart Stevens of the Lincoln Project sat down with host Joy Reid and guest co-host Elie Mystal to go through the new ad. The Joy Reid Show has over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. The Lincoln Project also noted in the same post,“Our newest ad, Sick, doesn’t mince words, and neither does Stuart Stevens. Watch him break it down on The Joy Reid Show,” they added.As per a report shared by Axios, new internal polling shows Vivek Ramaswamy losing ground in the Ohio governor’s race. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who has endorsed him, publicly called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling” and urged its withdrawal. Many within the Republican Party now worry the move hands Democrats the race.Republican operatives warn Ramaswamy’s Amy Acton ad could cost Ohio GOP the Senate majority as new poll shows damage:President Trump Holds Midterm Rally In Ohio - Source: GettyAs per the report shared by Axios, the numbers were not what Vivek Ramaswamy's team had in mind. New internal Republican polling found eighty-six percent of the eight hundred people surveyed had already come across the ad. Among those familiar with it, voters said by a two-to-one margin it made them more likely to back Acton.The damage, Republicans now fear, does not stop at the governor’s race. The fallout could drag down U.S. Senator Jon Husted’s reelection campaign in a state that may decide Senate control. Husted has already made clear he would not have run the ad. A GOP operative briefed on the race’s internal polling was blunt,“Vivek’s ad put the whole Republican ticket on defense. He better hope Ohio doesn’t decide the Senate majority,” the operative said.(The above reflects the view of an unnamed Republican operative and is reported here for informational purposes. This publication takes no position on the claim.)The ad, which was filmed months earlier, reportedly met resistance inside the campaign before it ran. One voice, though, kept pushing for it. As a source close to the campaign shared,“The candidate is the one pushing for it.”It was first put online as a test, sent to poll respondents to rate on their devices. According to the same source, the rollout was never part of a broader plan,“This was not planned. But Vivek got what he wanted. I probably wouldn’t have run it,” the source added.Barack Obama joins Amy Acton on the campaign trail in Ohio and calls out Vivek Ramaswamy over attack ad:Republican Candidates In Ohio Campaign For Midterms At Pancake Breakfast - Source: GettyFormer President Barack Obama made his first midterm campaign rally appearance on October 24, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio, sharing the stage with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton and former Senator Sherrod Brown. It was his most pointed public attack on the Trump administration in recent memory. Obama told the crowd the administration had shown“incompetence the likes of which we have not seen in modern times,” he said.(The above reflects former President Obama’s personal assessment of the current administration and is reported here as a matter of public record. It does not represent the position of this publication.)He also took direct aim at Vivek Ramaswamy over the attack ad, saying it pointed to a broader coarsening of American politics. In his opinion, Ramaswamy had shown there was “no line” he would not cross. “There’s a decency that we should expect out of our public officials. And I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody can run an ad like that,” he shared.Acton, who also addressed the ad from the stage, said Vivek Ramaswamy was targeting her family history to “save his struggling campaign,” adding,“It’s not going to work, because compassion and decency still matter,” she said.Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck fired back in a statement, arguing Obama had left America “more divided than ever” and questioning Acton’s qualifications for governor.(The above statement is attributed to Connie Luck, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokeswoman, and reflects her characterization alone.)