Republican nominee for Ohio governor Vivek Ramaswamy said an attack ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton's mother had completed its run, as the dispute over the spot continued ahead of Ohio's Nov. 3 election.
At a campaign stop in Vandalia, Ohio, on Oct. 29, Ramaswamy said: “It ran to completion, and we put up four other ads.”
The ad featured Donna Arthur accusing Acton of lying and urging voters not to elect her. Those statements were Arthur's accusations, not independently established findings about Acton.
On Oct. 20, the campaign said it planned to spend $4 million promoting the ad. AdImpact estimated that spending on two versions had reached about $1 million as of Oct. 29.
Acton campaign spokesperson Addie Bullock said Ramaswamy should not have run the spot and criticized its removal “without even the hint of an apology.”
A Suffolk University/USA Today poll of 500 likely voters, conducted Oct. 21-26, found that 360 had heard about the ad. Among those respondents, seven said they had shifted their support from Ramaswamy to Acton, while one said they had moved in the other direction.
Axios reported a separate internal poll commissioned by an unnamed Republican group. It surveyed 800 likely voters Oct. 23-26 and found Acton leading by eight points, compared with two points earlier in October. Among respondents familiar with the ad, a 2-to-1 ratio said it made them more likely to vote for Acton.
The polls differ in design and do not establish that the ad caused a change in overall voter support. Ohio's general election is Nov. 3.
