I Just Confronted Vivek Ramaswamy About His Controversial Ad

At the conclusion of a crowded campaign event at K’s Hamburger Shop in Troy, Ohio, on Thursday, I approached the state’s Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, with a simple question.

“Do you think Dr. Acton lied about being raped?” I asked him.

It’s not something I ever thought I’d have to ask a politician. But last week, Ramaswamy’s campaign released a controversial advertisement that strongly suggested his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, fabricated the story that she was raped by her stepfather when she was 12, which is well documented in court records, as well as her account of experiencing homelessness.

“She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life,” Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, said in the ad bankrolled by Ramaswamy’s campaign. “Don’t vote for people who lie.”

Ramaswamy did not answer my question directly.

“Our ad was about her lying about me, and I can confirm she has lied about me extensively in this race, and it’s shameful,” he told me.

“Can you answer the question?” I said. “Did she lie about rape?”

“I’m talking to voters right now,” he said, before being shooed away by campaign staff.

Acton has said she hasn’t seen her mother since 1978, the year her stepfather was indicted by an Ohio grand jury for “engag[ing] in sexual contact” with Acton when she was “less than thirteen years of age.” The man, Cledith Arthur, fled Ohio with Acton’s mother and was able to evade warrants for his arrest until he died in Pennsylvania in 2004. “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died,” Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, said in a statement defending Acton after the ad was released.

Much to my disappointment, I didn’t have the chance to ask Ramaswamy anything else about his decision to exploit his opponent’s traumatic childhood by featuring the woman who stood by the man charged with raping her daughter.

But 20 minutes before my interaction with the billionaire biotech entrepreneur—as I snacked on a tasty $4.40 cheeseburger—Ramaswamy clapped as Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber, the GOP nominee for state attorney general, characterized Republicans as the political party that protects children from sexual abuse.

“We passed the strongest laws in the country to go after human trafficking and to lock up sexual predators. In fact, we passed the law that said if you molest our children, you go to prison for life without a chance of parole,” said Faber.

“I am proud of being the guy who will stand with the men and women who keep our families safe. That’s Republican values. That’s what Republicans stand for,” Faber continued.

A woman from Xenia. named Susan came up to me as I was leaving. She said she was grateful I confronted Ramaswamy about the ad. Despite previously voting for Republican candidates, she told me she can’t see herself supporting Ramaswamy next week. “My family puts people who protect predators in prison,” she told me through tears, explaining that her family works in law enforcement. “Giving that woman a platform—it’s disgusting.”