Tune into the radio driving in Ohio and you are likely to hear an election advertisement from Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign. It says nothing directly about the 41-year-old who wants to be Ohio's governor, nothing about what he stands for, nothing about his policies, nothing about how he would govern Ohio.

The ad. features Amy Acton’s estranged mother, who claims Acton is a liar and that she would be no good for the state.

The history of Acton's relationship with her mother quickly became the subject of intense debate, and just as quickly what became clear is that the ad. was a baseless attack on a candidate leading her moneyed opponent who is grasping for any leverage he can find in the waning days of his bid for the governorship. Reaction from both Republicans and Democrats was swift.

“It’s wrong to run this ad. I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down," said Ohio's outgoing Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican who called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling" and "a new low" for the state's politics.

“I would not have run that ad.,” said fellow Republican Jon Husted, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

But their disgust was not matched by all Republicans. Vice President JD Vance called Republicans who had a problem with the ad. "whiners" and President Donald Trump said, “Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’” Trump also attacked Governor DeWine, saying he was “disloyal to the Republican party."

This single ad might just sink Ramaswamy's entire campaign, so a deep dive into this election season is necessary to understand how the race got to this point.

Vivek Ramaswamy and his campaign

Ramaswamy’s history in politics was a breakout spectacle for all of America to see. He stood against Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries for the presidency. Then, after Trump won the presidency Ramaswamy joined Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), before falling out with Musk and leaving the project.

With DOGE behind him, the Cincinnati native and his powerful backers in the data center, AI and crypto industries -- all of which Ramaswamy has a personal stake in -- shifted his focus to the seat for Ohio Governor, and the all-out brawl between candidates ramped up once Ramaswamy and Republican-linked PACs started taking political cheap shots.

Acton and Sherrod Brown, the two primary Democratic nominees, have been victims of malicious and ill-informed attack ads. Ramaswamy has brushed off the criticism and doubled down on the Acton ad.

"Every person who appears to know her the best — her former boss, her former colleagues in state government, even the doctors in this state, the Ohio State Medical Association — have told voters not to vote for her but to vote for me instead," Ramaswamy said.

For her part Acton has condemned the attack. "It was a horrible and hideous thing to do. A sad thing. And I feel like it was an exploitative thing to do.”

Brown, who is running for the U.S. Senate said, “The ad released by Vivek Ramaswamy is disgusting. Everyone, including Jon Husted, should be willing to condemn this ad.” To his credit Husted did.

The Sherrod Brown advertisement

The advertisement targeting Brown did not come directly from Husted's campaign. The Senate Leadership Fund, a superPAC aligned with Senate Republican leadership, released the ad. which accuses the former U.S. senator and Senate candidate of promoting gender surgery on minors. The ad. has been widely condemned as misleading, but like the Acton ad., its purpose is not to inform, but to bash an opponent by any means necessary, including misinformation and lies.  

News 5 Cleveland debunked the anti-Brown ad., noting that the woman in the advertisement was an out-of-state conservative influencer named Soren Aldaco. 

Texas-based Aldaco alleges in the ad. that proper consent was not obtained when she was prescribed testosterone and estrogen blockers at 17. Then, at 19, she underwent a double mastectomy in Texas, legally as an adult. None of what she implies Brown was involved in had anything to do with Brown, who played no role in how Aldaco was treated.

The ad. is nothing but innuendo, designed to smear Brown.

It's safe to say that advertisements like this are complete nonsense, and this level of slander and scrutiny isn’t restricted to Brown alone. But the false claims the ad made forced Brown’s campaign to address them. The responses can be found here. The debunked ad is here. 

What has changed and why it matters

Politicians and observers on both sides agree that something is rotten in the state of Ohio. And neither Acton nor Brown escape untarnished in the battle for the state's future. Each has run or been supported by ads which have raised eyebrows.

But in politics, there's fighting clean, and there's fighting dirty. Trump said the anti-Acton ad. hit "pay dirt." He likes what Ramaswamy did, and it's clear how Trump, Vance and Ramaswamy like to fight.

The all-out brawl that has broken out among the state's would-be leaders creates a problem for many Ohioans who intend to vote in the midterms. None of these ads discuss the officials’ actual policies; they only say the opponent will hurt Ohio if elected. 

Political researchers such as CSU's Dr. Richard Perloff point out that much of the abuse is protected under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

"It’s not illegal," Perloff said, "but it definitely can be dangerous in regards to how these ads are framed."

The framing he describes presents a problem for Ohio voters. How are they to decide whether one side or the other will improve their life, when all they're hearing is how a vote for the other side will damage their way of life.

Ramaswamy has been linked to a faulty drug; Husted has been linked to the Epstein Files by a tenuous chain of relationships; Brown has been harassed at rallies, and an armed man lunged at Acton at a campaign rally. None of this helps Ohioans understand what Ramaswamy, Husted, Brown or Acton would actually do if elected.

The days of would-be leaders seeking to inform the electorate of what they would do for the state are behind us in Ohio’s current political atmosphere.

“That danger becomes obvious when you look at the news and see the headlines of violence at voting centers and rallies," Perloff said. "It makes the average person wonder what the actual policy is."

“What we’re seeing is a shift across the political world in recent years that political communication is becoming something of a more heated atmosphere,” Perloff said. 

How the people of Ohio are reacting to that heat will become clear November 3, when they have the chance to reject a style of politics that diminishes the state instead of building it.

For information on the policies of the candidates running for Ohio governor, the U.S. Senate, and other positions in the midterm election, the following resources provide non-partisan guidance:

• Governor
• Senate
• Representatives