Amy Acton is running against former GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy for governor of Ohio. She knew when she decided to run that the attack ads were inevitable. But what happened yesterday was beyond the pale.
When Amy was twelve years old, she was sexually abused by her stepfather. He was arrested. Amy and her brother were taken out of the home. And their mother, the person who was supposed to protect them, stayed married to the man who abused her daughter until the day he died.
That’s the story Amy Acton has carried her whole life. This week, people supporting her opponent in the race for governor of Ohio decided to use it against her.
A video made to look like a campaign ad started circulating online, shared by right-wing influencers backing Ramaswamy. It features Acton’s estranged mother looking into the camera and calling her daughter a liar, over and over.
There was no disclaimer saying who paid for it. When reporters asked Ramaswamy’s campaign about it, they didn’t condemn it. A spokeswoman said they don’t know what happened between Amy and her mother, and then called Acton “a serial fabulist” anyway.
I’m not going to show you that video. It doesn’t deserve the attention, and Amy Acton doesn’t deserve to have her worst memories turned into one more piece of content.
But I am going to show you what happened next.
A Brother Steps Forward
By Tuesday morning, Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, had put out a statement. He grew up in that house too. “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,” he wrote. “After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”
By that afternoon, he was in front of a camera.
Think about what that took. Philip Stearns didn’t ask to be part of a governor’s race. He’s not a politician. He’s a brother who watched something terrible happen to his sister when they were kids, and who has had to live with it ever since. This week, he decided that the most private pain of his family’s life was worth putting on television if it meant standing up for her.
And he wasn’t alone in being disgusted. The reaction crossed party lines. Meghan McCain, the daughter of one of the most respected Republicans of my lifetime, called it “a dastardly ad” that “never should have been created.” Robby Soave of Reason called it “sick stuff.”
Axios reported last night that the Ramaswamy campaign is putting $4 million dollars behind this disgusting ad. While I don’t yet have confirmation of the buy, I wouldn’t put anything past Vivek and his jackals.
Grandparents Against Lying Ads
Up in Michigan, the same kind of fight played out this week, with a very different tone.
For months, Republicans have been hammering Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate, with ads designed to make him seem foreign, dangerous, and other. The President himself has called him “a total communist.” El-Sayed is the Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants and a practicing Muslim, and a lot of the attacks have been aimed squarely at that.
So on Tuesday, his campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party released an ad called “Grandson.” It stars his grandparents, Jan and Judy.
It opens with Trump calling their grandson a communist. Judy repeats it back, incredulous: “Communist?” Jan answers, “We’re Presbyterian!” From there, they take turns. There are lots of ads making Abdul seem different, Jan says. “And he is different,” Judy says. Different, Jan adds, “by how he takes on the powerful.”
Then Judy gives Michigan some advice: “Stop listening to those lying ads. Take a walk. Read a book. Go on a boat ride, maybe. They think they can fool us.” And when Jan admits Abdul doesn’t always say the right thing, Judy turns to him: “He got that from you!”
It’s funny, it’s warm, and it’s the perfect answer to the ugliness thrown at their grandson.
The Price of Showing Up
Here’s what I want you to understand about both of these ads. Nobody in them got paid to be brave.
When you put your family on television in a campaign like this one, you’re not just asking them to say a few nice words. You’re putting them in the line of fire.
The last time El-Sayed’s family appeared in one of his ads, right-wing outlets soon went digging through his other relatives, looking for anything they could use. Philip Stearns knows that by speaking up, he’s opened up the worst chapter of his childhood to strangers on the internet. These families did it anyway.
I know a little about how scary that is. After I voted to impeach Donald Trump and joined the investigation into January 6th, the threats didn’t stop at me. They came to my family, including my wife and my infant son. There’s no feeling quite like reading words aimed at the people you love because of something you chose to do. It makes you want to pull everyone you care about inside and lock the door.
So when I watch a brother and a pair of grandparents choose to step out into the open instead, knowing what might come next, I don’t just see good ads. I see courage.
They Think They Can Fool Us
Look at what each side brought to the fight this week. One side went looking for the most painful thing in a woman’s life and tried to turn it into a weapon. The other side’s families stood up, told the truth, and stood in front of the people they love.
Most of us will never be on a ballot. But all of us will face some version of this choice. Somebody in your life will get smeared, at work or at church or in your town, and you’ll have to decide whether to stay quiet or stand next to them. The people who throw these attacks are counting on everyone else being too scared, too tired, or too uncomfortable to speak up.
Philip Stearns didn’t stay quiet. Neither did Jan and Judy. You don’t have to either.
Judy put it best: “They think they can fool us.”
They can’t. Not as long as we keep standing up for each other.
— Adam
The level of corruption , flagrant abuse of power, fanaticism and sewage pouring out of the Trump administration is simply staggering!!
These are despicable people in the GOP. Shameful. Thank you, Adam, for speaking out on behalf of the brave families who have the courage to put themselves on the line for each other. My heart breaks for them.