Pritzker’s wife donates $500K to Acton after Ramaswamy ad

Illinois first lady MK Pritzker announced Wednesday that she donated $500,000 to Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton’s (D) campaign after Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign released a video featuring Acton’s estranged mother calling her daughter a “liar.”

“Bad men gain power when we refuse to stand up and fight. Vivek Ramaswamy represents everything that is wrong with our politics today: arrogance, cruelty, dishonesty, and the belief that it’s acceptable to say and do anything for power,” Pritzker, the wife of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), a possible 2028 presidential contender, said in a statement.

“This race is about standing up to bullies, confronting extremism, and making damn sure that men who thrive on cruelty and division don’t get a free pass to govern,” she added. “Ohio deserves better, Ohio deserves Amy Acton as their Governor, and I’m willing to fight for her.”

A video of Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, roiled the Ohio gubernatorial race on Tuesday when the one-minute spot circulated over social media. In the video, Arthur says her daughter has “a serious problem” and that she “lies about her past,” including growing up in a tent.

The video ends with Arthur urging Ohioans not to vote for Acton, saying “if you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself,” though Arthur does not mention Ramaswamy by name.

Acton told The Vindicator during an August 2019 interview she was estranged from her mother. Acton’s stepfather Cledith Arthur abused her when she was an adolescent and was later charged with raping Acton, according to The Associated Press , which obtained court and police documents. Despite pleading not guilty to the crime, he was later indicted by a grand jury, according to the news outlet.

Acton’s brother Philip Stearns said in a statement responding to the video on Tuesday that their mother and stepfather lost custody of the children, adding that their mother remained married to her stepfather until he died.

Ramaswamy’s campaign said it produced the ad but Donna Arthur had not been paid for it. It was initially unclear who had released the video. Despite backlash over the ad from both Democrats and Republicans, the Ramaswamy campaign said they would be spending $4 million to promote it ahead of next month’s race.

“We don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor,” Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement regarding the ad.

Acton’s campaign slammed the ad, with Stearns saying “it’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point.”

“This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants,” he added.

Acton’s campaign also came out with an ad in response, in which Stearns says in a direct-to-camera video that the Ohio GOP rival is “ not fit to lead .” Acton’s brother also recounted their stepfather’s abuse.

Her campaign doubled down on those points in a new statement Wednesday in response to reporting that Ramaswamy’s team would be spending millions to promote the controversial ad.

“Vivek Ramaswamy investing $4 million to run a repulsive advertisement that gives star billing to Dr. Acton’s abusive mother is both despicable and entirely predictable from a scam artist who has spent this campaign standing alongside abusers and sex predators,” Acton campaign spokesperson Addie Bullock said in a statement.

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates the Ohio governor’s race as a “toss-up.”