Brown calls on Husted to condemn ad featuring Acton’s mother

Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown pressed his Republican rival, Sen. Jon Husted (Ohio), to condemn a recent advertisement allegedly from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

“The ad released by Vivek Ramaswamy is disgusting. Everyone, including Jon Husted, should be willing to condemn this ad,” Brown said in a post on the social platform X Tuesday afternoon.

Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton alleged that Ramaswamy had a “lifelong pattern” of personal attacks in the wake of a political ad surfacing online featuring Acton’s estranged mother calling her a “liar.” She has publicly talked about experiencing abuse as a child.

Acton suggested the ad came from Ramaswamy’s campaign and criticized him for using her family history two weeks out from Election Day.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about, who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse,” Acton told Spectrum News on Tuesday.

“This is a lifelong pattern with my opponent,” she added.

Acton’s brother referred to the ad as “a despicable low” on Tuesday and reaffirmed her public statements about their childhood experiences.

The Hill has reached out to Husted and Ramaswamy’s campaigns for comment.