Ramaswamy and Trump gamble on an incendiary ad, as Ohio shows signs it might turn purple again

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Vivek Ramaswamy is ending his run for Ohio governor the same way he launched himself onto the political scene four years ago — with a bet that voters will reward him for a never-back-down bombast that mirrors President Donald Trump’s instincts.

But interviews with voters over three days following the release of the Republican nominee’s ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, offered a glimpse at the potential perils of imitating Trump — particularly in a year in which polls show voters turning away from the president.

And if Ramaswamy’s approach alienates enough moderate and independent voters, a Republican Party looking for its way forward in the fast-approaching post-Trump era could find itself losing the ground it gained in a state that not long ago was a perpetual political battleground.

The ad at issue shows Acton’s estranged mother calling her own daughter a liar and urging voters to reject her. Acton has said she hasn’t seen her mother since she was 12 years old, when her mother lost custody of her children. Her stepfather was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexually abusing her. Confronted on those underlying details this week, both Trump and Ramaswamy deflected and pointed to the mother’s allegations.

In CNN’s conversations with voters after the ad was published, the dynamics in the governor’s race felt similar to those playing out nationally: Die-hard Republicans who still support Trump remain strongly in Ramaswamy’s camp, despite the controversy. They remain angry at Acton over her role in Ohio’s Covid-19 response, a period in which she was director of the Ohio Department of Health, and say both campaigns have aired negative ads. More moderate and independent voters, though, said they were bothered by the ad, and that it does change how they see the GOP nominee.

The question that could decide the governor’s race in a state Trump won by 11 percentage points in 2024 is just how many Republicans Ramaswamy is able to keep in his camp as the controversy engulfs the race’s final days.

Kari Freudenberger, a 47-year-old substitute teacher and social worker from Madeira who described herself as independent, said after seeing Ramaswamy speak Wednesday in Cincinnati that the ad was “heinous and horrible” — and makes her less likely to vote for the biotech entrepreneur.

“I don’t care if Ramaswamy’s policies are the best. That shows a judgment of character that I don’t want to see anymore in politics,” she said.

Cherise Wilson, a 48-year-old nurse who lives near Cincinnati and said she is a Republican, told CNN she is “torn” about the governor’s race — and on whether it was appropriate to use Acton’s mother in an ad.

“I feel bad for Amy in the sense that she was truly a victim,” she said. “But I also don’t want somebody running the state of Ohio who is a victim and is in victim mode. … But I also don’t want somebody who is going to be a complete — can I say a**?”

An independent voter who asked not to be named, a 57-year-old chemist who came to the rally because he works nearby, said he was impressed by Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign and initially excited he was running for governor of Ohio.

But he said he’s been turned off by the advertising in the race — including Ramaswamy’s ad featuring Acton’s mother. He is now unsure who he’ll vote for.

“I just feel like you don’t even need that stuff,” he said. “The ads are a real turnoff on both sides.”

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The ad was met with immediate criticism , including from the man Ramaswamy is running to replace, two-term Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

“The ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine told reporters Thursday. “But when you know the rest of the story … it makes it just more wrong.”

But prominent Republicans, including Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have defended Ramaswamy and the ad. Trump on Friday said even knowing Acton’s history, Ramaswamy should continue airing the ad .

“A mother is saying, ‘Don’t put my daughter there because she’s a terrible person and she’s a liar,’” Trump said. “Why shouldn’t somebody use that?”

Ramaswamy, at an event on Friday and later when speaking to reporters, claimed that “our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse” — ignoring Acton’s history, which she had described publicly before the ad.

When pushed by CNN about whether he harbored doubts that Acton was abused by her stepfather, Ramaswamy deflected, noting he had never met or spoken to Acton’s mother and repeating his previous attack on Acton’s credibility.

“I think that in the standard of political advertising that they have used and that the media regularly accepts, I think it is absolutely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves,” he said.

Ramaswamy’s approach to the controversy was a reminder of his pugnacious bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Several other candidates were willing to criticize Trump, frequently and sharply, in speeches and on debate stages, even through Trump chose not to appear. Ramaswamy, by contrast, was often the president’s most vocal defender. He sought the limelight and relished clashes with other candidates, often talking over and insulting them in a style reminiscent of Trump’s 2015 rise.

The irony of the explosive chapter in the Ohio governor’s race is that it kicked off when the ad was first published not by Ramaswamy’s campaign, but by an Ohio political blogger, D.J. Byrnes, who is known as “The Rooster.” Byrnes told CNN he obtained the video from a voter who saw it as part of a poll and recorded it.

After the video leaked Monday night, Ramaswamy’s campaign was at a crossroads. Should it distance itself or take responsibility and lean into the incendiary line of attack?

It wasn’t until shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday that the campaign broke its silence on the ad, and even then, its statement did not say whether it was responsible for the spot. About five hours later, Ramasawmy ended the mystery.

“It is an ad from our campaign,” he told reporters after a town hall in the Columbus area.

By the end of the evening, his campaign had announced it would spend $4 million to run the ad, making clear it would not back down.

At campaign stops Friday, Republicans who had lined up to see Ramaswamy said they were going to continue to support him — even if they had misgivings about the ad.

Joan Smith, who was waiting outside a pancake breakfast with Ramaswamy in Strongsville, said she is “not happy about” the ad and hopes Ramaswamy’s campaign will take the ad off the air.

“But I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bath water,” she said. “Politics is a dirty game. You can’t be weak in something like this.”

Still, she said, the ad was “a shocker.”

“It’s bad. I don’t like it. That wasn’t necessary,” she said. “But he did it and it’s over, and people make mistakes all the time, and I don’t think he should have done that.”

At the same event, Joyce Tedrick said she had “no concerns” about the ad.

“I think it just goes along with the fact that she isn’t always truthful,” she said. “It’s too bad.”

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

维韦克·拉马斯瓦米结束他竞选俄亥俄州州长的方式，与他四年前进入政坛的方式如出一辙——他赌选民会因为他永不退缩的夸夸其谈而给予他奖励，这种夸夸其谈反映了唐纳德·特朗普总统的本能。

但共和党候选人发布广告后三天内对选民的采访，让人们得以窥见模仿特朗普的潜在危险——尤其是在民调显示选民正在远离总统的这一年。该广告的主角是共和党对手的疏远母亲艾米·阿克顿。

如果拉马斯瓦米的做法疏远了足够多的温和派和独立选民，那么在即将到来的后特朗普时代寻求前进方向的共和党可能会发现自己正在失去在不久前还是一个持续政治战场的州所取得的阵地。

引发争议的广告中，阿克顿疏远的母亲称自己的女儿是骗子，并敦促选民拒绝支持她。阿克顿表示，自从12岁母亲失去子女监护权后，她就再也没见过母亲。她的继父因涉嫌性侵她而被大陪审团起诉。本周，当被问及这些细节时，特朗普和拉马斯瓦米都避而不谈，并将矛头指向了阿克顿母亲的指控。

在广告播出后，CNN与选民的交流中发现，俄亥俄州州长竞选的动态与全国范围内的竞选形势类似：尽管存在争议，但仍然坚定支持特朗普的铁杆共和党人依然支持拉马斯瓦米。他们对阿克顿在俄亥俄州应对新冠疫情期间的表现感到愤怒，当时阿克顿担任俄亥俄州卫生厅厅长。他们表示，双方竞选团队都投放了负面广告。然而，较为温和的独立选民则表示，他们对这则广告感到不满，这确实改变了他们对共和党候选人的看法。

在特朗普 2024 年以 11 个百分点的优势赢得的这个州，决定州长竞选结果的关键问题是，随着争议席卷竞选的最后几天，拉马斯瓦米究竟能留住多少共和党人。

来自马德拉的 47 岁代课教师兼社会工作者卡里·弗罗伊登伯格 (Kari Freudenberger) 自称独立，她在周三于辛辛那提观看拉马斯瓦米 (Ramaswamy) 的演讲后表示，这则广告“令人发指，极其可怕”，这让她不太可能投票给这位生物技术企业家。

“我不在乎拉马斯瓦米的政策是不是最好的。这种对人品的判断方式，是我在政坛上不想再看到的，”她说。

48 岁的护士 Cherise Wilson 住在辛辛那提附近，自称是共和党人。她告诉 CNN，她对州长竞选感到“左右为难”，也对在广告中使用 Acton 的母亲是否合适感到困惑。

“我为艾米感到难过，因为她确实是受害者，”她说。“但我也不想让一个受害者，一个总是摆出一副受害者姿态的人来治理俄亥俄州……但我也不想让一个彻头彻尾的——我能说他是混蛋吗？”

一位不愿透露姓名的独立选民，57 岁的化学家，因为在附近工作而前来参加集会，他说他对拉马斯瓦米的 2024 年总统竞选印象深刻，最初也很兴奋他竞选俄亥俄州州长。

但他表示，这场竞选的广告让他感到反感，包括拉马斯瓦米那则以阿克顿母亲为主角的广告。他现在不确定自己会投票给谁。

“我觉得你根本不需要那些东西，”他说。“广告对双方来说都很令人反感。”

香农·斯台普顿/路透社

这则广告立即遭到批评，其中包括拉马斯瓦米竞选接替的两届共和党州长迈克·德瓦恩的批评。

“这则广告本身就非常令人不安，”德瓦恩周四告诉记者。“但当你了解了事情的来龙去脉……就更觉得它错得离谱了。”

但包括特朗普和副总统万斯在内的多位共和党知名人士都为拉马斯瓦米和这则广告辩护。特朗普周五表示，即便了解阿克顿的过往，拉马斯瓦米也应该继续播放这则广告。

特朗普说：“一位母亲说，‘别把我女儿送到那里，因为她是个很糟糕的人，而且她是个骗子。’为什么不能有人利用这一点呢？”

拉马斯瓦米在周五的一次活动中以及后来接受记者采访时声称，“我们的广告与童年虐待、性虐待没有任何关系”——无视了阿克顿的过往经历，而阿克顿在广告播出前曾公开描述过这段经历。

当 CNN 追问拉马斯瓦米是否怀疑阿克顿曾遭受继父虐待时，拉马斯瓦米回避了这个问题，指出他从未见过或与阿克顿的母亲交谈过，并重复了他之前对阿克顿可信度的攻击。

他说：“我认为，按照他们所使用的、媒体经常接受的政治广告标准来看，让选民听到这些广告并自行做出决定是完全可以接受的。”

拉马斯瓦米处理这场争议的方式，让人想起他当年竞选2024年共和党总统候选人提名时的咄咄逼人。其他几位候选人都愿意在演讲和辩论中频繁而尖锐地批评特朗普，即便特朗普选择不露面。相比之下，拉马斯瓦米却常常是总统最直言不讳的辩护者。他渴望成为焦点，并乐于与其他候选人交锋，经常打断他们的发言，甚至出言侮辱，这种风格让人想起特朗普在2015年崛起时的姿态。

俄亥俄州州长竞选中这一爆炸性事件的讽刺之处在于，它并非由拉马斯瓦米的竞选团队发布，而是由一位名叫DJ Byrnes的俄亥俄州政治博主（网名“公鸡”）发布。Byrnes告诉CNN，他从一位选民那里获得了这段视频，这位选民是在民意调查中看到这段视频并录制下来的。

周一晚间视频泄露后，拉马斯瓦米的竞选活动陷入了十字路口。它应该撇清关系，还是应该承担责任，并顺应煽动性的攻击路线？

直到周二下午2点前不久，该竞选团队才打破沉默，就这则广告发表声明，但即便如此，声明中也没有说明是否是他们制作的。大约五个小时后，拉马萨米揭开了谜底。

“这是我们竞选活动中的一则广告，”他在哥伦布地区市政厅会议后告诉记者。

当晚结束时，他的竞选团队宣布将花费 400 万美元投放这则广告，明确表示不会退缩。

周五的竞选活动中，排队等候拉马斯瓦米的共和党人表示，即使他们对这则广告有所疑虑，他们仍将继续支持他。

琼·史密斯当时正在斯特朗斯维尔和拉马斯瓦米一起享用煎饼早餐，她在外面等候。她说她对这则广告“很不满意”，并希望拉马斯瓦米的竞选团队能撤下这则广告。

“但我不会因噎废食，”她说。“政治是一场肮脏的游戏。在这种事情上，你不能软弱。”

不过，她表示，这则广告“令人震惊”。

“这很糟糕。我不喜欢这样。这完全没必要，”她说。“但他做了，事情也过去了，人都会犯错，我不认为他应该那样做。”

在同一场合，乔伊斯·泰德里克表示她对这则广告“没有任何担忧”。

“我觉得这跟她并非总是说实话的事实有关，”她说。“太可惜了。”

CNN的摩根·里默和帕特里克·斯维特克对本报道亦有贡献。