Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made a campaign issue this week out of Democrat Amy Acton’s troubled family history after he cast Acton’s estranged mother in a TV commercial and announced he’d spend millions of dollars to air it statewide.
Court records document the circumstances that Acton has said led to the decades-long estrangement from her mother, Donna Arthur. Acton’s former stepfather was charged in 1978 with raping Acton when she was 12 years old.
Signal Statewide requested a copy of the 1978 Mahoning County file, which documents the rape case against the stepfather, Cledith Arthur. It shows how he was arrested and then indicted several months later. He pleaded not guilty but never stood trial.
The court records show a judge ordered his arrest after he vacated his last known address, with deputies unable to locate him. Donna Arthur separately has described moving away with her husband while the case was pending.
The file also contains a reference to a previous incest charge against Cledith Arthur from 1974, which also was referenced in the Youngstown newspaper at that time, although it’s not clear how that case was resolved. Donna Arthur has separately referenced a separate allegation that Cledith Arthur had sexually abused another family member.
The full 38-page file, which matches excerpts released by Acton’s campaign earlier this week after Ramaswamy’s ad first became public, is included below.
In the Ramaswamy campaign ad, Arthur says that her daughter has “lied about her past,” specifically denying that Acton ever lived in a tent as a child.
The ad doesn’t explicitly reference the rape case that led to Acton being removed from her mother’s care, although Arthur, in a 2020 interview with an anti-abortion activist, also has disputed that Acton was raped.
Acton, meanwhile, has said her difficult childhood motivated her to become a doctor so she could help people. She has described being removed from her mother’s home after she was abused and neglected while growing up, saying she moved frequently as a child and spent a winter in a tent. The case file references Cledith Arthur living in a campground in 1978 but doesn’t elaborate. Acton’s campaign responded with an ad featuring Acton’s brother, Phil Stearns, who corroborated Acton’s story about her abusive childhood, including living in the tent.
Ramaswamy and Acton are facing each other in the Nov. 3 election to replace outgoing Gov. Mike DeWine.
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Ramaswamy ad sharply divides Republicans
The instant controversy that followed the release of Ramaswamy’s ad this week made Ohio’s already hotly contested governor’s race one of the biggest political stories in the country. Ramaswamy’s campaign staff has described the ad as “a campaign-ending moment for Acton,” and his allies have said they believe the attack is effective. In explaining the ad, Ramaswamy has said the ad offers an example of how the people closest to Acton say she shouldn’t be trusted.
The ad has drawn condemnation from numerous former and current Republican officials during a critical phase of the campaign. Several Republican members of this year’s statewide ticket – Sen. Jon Husted, attorney general candidate Keith Faber and state auditor candidate Frank LaRose – all distanced themselves from it, saying they wouldn’t have released the ad. Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters this week that Ramaswamy should take the ad off the air, although he added he isn’t rescinding his endorsement of Ramaswamy. Some Republicans have said they’re concerned that the ad will backfire politically.
Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou referenced the divisions on social media, saying that the party “is keeping score” of any defections, leading to criticism from former attorney general Dave Yost, who dropped out of the governor’s race last year.
Ramaswamy blames media for the controvery
On Friday morning, Ramaswamy blamed the media for the controversy, accusing it of “lying about an ad about lying.”
“Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse. We condemn that as forcefully as anyone. Our ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies, including during this campaign,” he said at a campaign stop in Strongsville before boarding a bus. “I think there has been very little to no coverage about the lies she has told about me, my family, my mother.”
Other Republicans have defended the ad, calling it an example of rough-and-tumble campaigning and saying Democrats have aired plenty of negative ads. Ramaswamy’s team has complained of a double standard, pointing to an Acton campaign press release that referenced Ramaswamy’s mother’s research for a failed Alzheimer’s drug developed by one of Ramaswamy’s former companies.
President Donald Trump has praised the ad for “hitting pay dirt,” while Vice President JD Vance said during a stop in Ohio this week that the Republican “whining” about the ad “disgusted” him.
Details in the case file
Besides laying out the general contours of the case, the file also shows that Acton, a children’s services worker, an Austintown police detective and a physician all were subpoenaed to deliver courtroom testimony leading up to Cledith Arthur’s eventual indictment.
In addition, it shows deputies periodically checked Arthur’s last known address several times – the campground outside Youngstown – to attempt to arrest him but failed to find him. The case file has no updates after 1983.
Acton’s name was redacted in the file – state law restricts officials from identifying crime victims in public records – but unredacted records released by Acton’s campaign show where the 1978 file identifies her.
Here is the court file:
