Ohio Democrat’s own mother calls her a liar in stunning campaign video

THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

A woman identifying herself as Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, released a video urging Ohio voters not to elect her daughter governor.
Arthur calls Acton a liar and disputes her account of spending part of her childhood living in a tent.
The video has revived a painful family history involving childhood sexual abuse, while questions remain about who financed the attack.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

Political candidates expect attacks from their opponents. They expect hostile commercials, nasty mailers and perhaps an old acquaintance who suddenly remembers something embarrassing from 1987.

But when your own mother appears on camera urging voters not to elect you governor, the opposition research department can probably take the afternoon off.

That’s the extraordinary situation facing Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton after a video featuring a woman identifying herself as her estranged mother, Donna Arthur, began circulating Monday night.

And Mom didn’t come bearing cookies.

“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem,” Arthur declared.

Then came the accusation that gave the video its political punch.

“She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent — none of that is true,” Arthur said.

“She’s lied her entire life.”

Arthur continued by suggesting her daughter needed help and shouldn’t be trusted to lead Ohio.

“My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” she said.

Her message to voters was unmistakable: “Don’t vote for people who lie, don’t let her become your governor.”

There are difficult family relationships, and then there’s having your mother deliver a statewide political attack commercial against you. Hallmark doesn’t make a card for this one.

The video appears designed to damage Acton in her race against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, although its sponsor remains unclear. As of Tuesday’s reporting, nobody had publicly established who paid for it, and Ramaswamy’s campaign had not claimed responsibility.

But the controversy has become considerably more complicated than an embarrassing family disagreement.

Acton has spoken publicly for years about an unstable and traumatic childhood. In a 2019 profile published by The Youngstown Vindicator, she described frequent moves, difficult living conditions and sexual abuse by a stepfather.

The profile also recounted Acton’s account that her family was living in a tent at a campground outside Youngstown during the winter when authorities became involved.

That history predates her campaign for governor by several years, a rather important detail now that her mother is accusing her of inventing it.

The account also described criminal charges against the stepfather and Acton’s eventual move into the care of her father and his relatives.

Arthur disputes her daughter’s description of their living circumstances, but her appearance in the video has brought renewed attention to the family’s painful past.

The advertisement has also drawn criticism from commentators across the political spectrum who object to dragging that history into a gubernatorial race.

And the timing is hardly accidental from a political standpoint.

Acton, Ohio’s former health director during the COVID-19 pandemic, is running against Ramaswamy to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. CNN analyst Harry Enten reported Monday that recent polling showed Acton with a four-point advantage.

In an ordinary election, that might produce a fresh round of television ads about taxes, jobs or the candidates’ records.

Ohio has instead been treated to a campaign commercial starring the Democratic candidate’s estranged mother, disputing the story of her daughter’s childhood and advising the public not to trust her.

For Acton, the allegations are intensely personal. For Ohio voters, they have become part of an increasingly unusual race for governor.

And for the political consultants watching all this unfold, the traditional advice about keeping family members close to the campaign may need a substantial rewrite.