An ad earlier this week from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sparked outrage from both sides of the aisle, but a political strategist in the state says that the record of his opponent, former health director Amy Acton, is what ultimately makes the difference in the race.
The ad features Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood and questioning her fitness to serve as governor. Acton responded by saying she and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody after her stepfather was accused of sexually abusing her, and Ramaswamy was quickly blasted by Democrats and some Republicans over the ad, which he has defended and spent millions to run over the next couple of weeks.
The controversy over the ad went viral on social media and was even commented on by President Donald Trump, who strongly defended Ramaswamy. Ohio attorney and political strategist Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital that Acton’s record is what should be under the microscope, not the ad.
“I think that we have to really shift from Vivek’s recent ad into the most important question for Ohioans is, who do you want governing the state of Ohio? We clearly can’t trust Amy Acton, and she has a record of that,” Cooke told Fox News Digital.
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Acton’s record involves controversies both professionally and personally, many of which have been focused on by ads in the state of Ohio.
Acton served as health director under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during the first months of COVID-19, when Ohio closed schools, shuttered bars and restaurants, restricted businesses and imposed a statewide stay-at-home order.
She also signed orders restricting nursing-home visitors, closing senior centers and adult daycare facilities, limiting mass gatherings and closing gyms and personal-service businesses before leaving the position amid pushback for the negative impact the lockdowns had.
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“She worked as a health director for Mike DeWine and left after masking our children, shutting down our state, and yes, Mike DeWine’s name is on those orders, but at the end of the day, it was Amy Acton’s signature,” Cooke said. “And she’s the one who pushed for locking down our kids. I don’t ever want to hire somebody who quits on the state during a pandemic. I can’t imagine if she had another meltdown, whether it was managing our state budget or anything else. So people don’t trust Amy.”
Acton’s handling of nursing homes has also drawn criticism in pro-Ramaswamy advertisements on the airwaves. Ohio imposed a broad visitor ban at nursing homes and similar facilities in March 2020, separating residents from family members during the early months of the pandemic.
The Ohio Department of Health was later sued over its refusal to release facility-level COVID-19 death data. An Ohio appeals court ruled that the department violated the state’s public-records law by refusing to provide information about nursing-home deaths.
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The ruling involved the health department as an agency and did not establish that Acton personally ordered the records to be withheld. However, critics have continued to argue that the controversy raises questions about transparency during her tenure.
Acton’s closure orders also became the subject of litigation from Ohio gyms. In the Rock House Fitness case, a court described the state’s actions as “arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive,” though subsequent legal proceedings and changes to the state’s orders complicated the dispute.
More recently, five current and former state-government workers told the Washington Examiner that Acton was sometimes absent from pandemic strategy meetings and emotionally volatile while leading the state’s response. One source alleged that she was found curled up on the floor before an emergency meeting, while another said she was seen crying in a bathroom.
A separate 2019 police report has also become a campaign issue. Bexley police responded to Acton’s home after a reported domestic dispute involving her husband. According to reporting based on the police report, Acton’s daughter told police that Acton had been drinking, throwing things and breaking glass. The report also said Acton pulled a mirror from a wall, shattering it.
No one was injured and no charges were filed. Acton’s campaign described the episode as a normal marital argument and disputed claims that it demonstrated alcohol abuse. Acton has called broader accusations that she is an alcoholic or drug addict “lies” and “a complete fabrication.”
Cooke explained that supporting law enforcement will be a critical attribute the next governor needs and that Acton has shown she is weak in that area, pointing to an Acton comment that appeared to compare ICE agents to the KKK and tying Acton to the “defund the police” ideology popular with socialist candidates across the country.
“There are people coming out there wearing masks, with all the gear on,” Acton said earlier this year during a City Club of Cleveland forum. “We don’t even know who they are. They’re just showing up. Does this not feel like the Ku Klux Klan to anyone?”
While Ramaswamy has faced blowback for using Acton’s mother in an ad, the race had already gotten personal and tied to family, with Acton’s side running ads invoking Ramaswamy’s mother.
“They have run an attack ad on Vivek Ramaswamy’s mother and the failure of an Alzheimer’s drug, they started attacking family first and I think politics is brutal,” Cooke said. “This is a contact sport in terms of anything in your closet. It all goes, but the difference is Vivek actually comes and addresses questions. He talks to people. He explains whether it was his businesses or anything else that he has conducted for the betterment of our economy and Ohioans. Amy continues to hide.”
With 11 days until voters decide who will be the next governor of Ohio, Acton has not yet agreed to debate Ramaswamy, which Cooke says is because she can’t articulate the complicated issues.
“They’re trying this Joe Biden strategy of hide in the basement, play the victim card, and it’s not going to work,” Cooke said.
“Amy will never get on a stage because the truth is she doesn’t know what she stands for, she’s going to have policies written for her by Democratic socialists that are running her party today, and right now, the plan is, let’s hide.”
Cooke recounted a recent visit to a doctor, who politically identifies as an Independent, where Ramaswamy’s ad came up and described a response that suggests the ad is not as damaging to Ramaswamy as being portrayed in the media.
“He said, ‘I don’t care about what’s in the ad,’” Cooke explained. “‘I care about her integrity. And the problem is, what does she stand for? I know what Vivek stands for. I have no idea what she stands for.’”
Fox News polling, conducted before the ad fallout, shows a tight race with likely voters favoring Acton over Ramaswamy by 50% to 48%.