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

By Eric Bradner, Lauren Fox, CNN

(CNN) — 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.”

Ramaswamy digs in

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.

How Republican voters feel

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.”

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