CNN
By Lauren Fox, Patrick Svitek, CNN
Wharton, Ohio (CNN) — Amy Acton was talking school budgets, local hospitals and generational farming at a farm event in northwest Ohio when she called on an attendee and asked her if there was anything she wanted to share.
Karen Lortz didn’t want to talk about those issues.
“My heart goes out to you,” Lortz said. “May I give you a hug?”
The interaction was just a sliver of the outpouring Acton said she’s received in recent days since a political ad from her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, surfaced featuring her estranged mother calling her a liar. It has drawn even more attention to one of the most competitive governor’s races in the country, in which Acton is battling Ramaswamy to become the state’s first elected female governor and first Democratic governor elected in two decades.
Acton’s mother lost custody of her and her brother when Acton was 12 years old. Her stepfather was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexually abusing her.
“It’s hard. It is the big elephant in the room, isn’t it?” Acton said Wednesday after Lortz raised the video. “My brother and I had a mom who struggled, and we experienced a lot of neglect and abuse.”
The ad has sent shockwaves through the state and once again directed focus back to Acton’s childhood, which she has talked about openly in the gubernatorial race and during her time as the state’s health director.
“The reason I talk about my childhood when I do is just one, I started to realize it might give other people hope that you can, you know, get out of circumstances. I remember people looking the other way and systems not working, but I also remember more the people who didn’t look the other way,” she said.
Acton’s campaign for governor has come under the spotlight in recent days because of the ad. But for months, the battle between her and Ramaswamy to lead the seventh-largest state has been one of the nastier contests under the national radar.
She spent a lot of time during Wednesday’s event referencing her relationships with prominent Republicans in the state – and trying to turn down the temperature.
“Everyone is exhausted. It’s been a long decade,” Acton told voters. “We’ve got folks voting Trump three times showing up … MAGA moms showing up at my stuff, and they are hurting. And moms who don’t love vaccines but love their kids, and they are showing up. And we’ve got to heal this thing that has been broken, and what I would say is the words our leaders use matter,” she said.
A former public health director
Many Ohioans first got to know Acton, a Youngstown native, as the director of the Ohio Department of Health when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Appointed by GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, Acton joined him at his daily coronavirus briefings, becoming a familiar, reassuring presence in the early weeks of the pandemic. But the role also put her at the center of a slew of controversial decisions, such as closing businesses and requiring people to stay at home. She resigned in June 2020.
Acton considered running for the state’s open Senate seat in 2022 but decided against it. A Democratic strategist working with her at the time, Jeff Rusnak, said he nonetheless saw how she had developed a special connection with Ohio voters from the pandemic.
“Every time I was with her, somebody would come up to her and say, ‘Can I hug you?’” Rusnak said. “People would break down in tears – men, women, Democrat, Republican, independent.”
Republicans have sought to make that period a political liability for her, calling her “the Anthony Fauci of Ohio.”
“She destroyed people’s lives during Covid,” Sen. Bernie Moreno told CNN on Sunday at a local Republican event. Moreno noted that, under her guidance, Ohio was the first state to shut down schools during the pandemic.
Acton has generally stood by her pandemic record. And while DeWine has endorsed Ramaswamy, he has said Acton should not be blamed for pandemic-related decisions he approved.
Erik Polyak, the executive director of 314 Action, a science-focused political group that has long backed Acton, said some may have mistakenly assumed from the outset of the race that her tenure would be a political obstacle.
“But we’ve seen from the very first polls we’ve done in this race … her leadership in Covid is not a negative,” Polyak said. “Obviously that was a very difficult time for many Americans … but Ohioans remember she was the leader who led with compassion and care.”
A nasty race
Even before the ad featuring Acton’s mom, the race had become filled with brutal attack ads targeting her.
A super PAC supporting Ramaswamy ran ads highlighting how police responded to her home in 2019 for a “domestic dispute,” according to a police report obtained by NBC News. Acton has said the ads exaggerate her actions that night.
“Amy Acton: Drinking. Drugs. Disaster. Disqualified,” one ad from the super PAC says.
Acton’s campaign cited the tenor of the race in an early September statement revealing that she would not debate Ramaswamy.
“Dr. Acton’s focus is on talking with Ohioans, not platforming a scam artist who spreads baseless lies about her and her family,” Acton campaign manager Phil Stein said.
Ramaswamy has since hounded her as scared of Ohio voters – and pointed out that he also has been on the receiving end of harsh ads. In one Acton ad, a man who says his wife had Alzheimer’s accuses Ramaswamy of promoting an Alzheimer’s drug that did not work.
“Mr. Ramaswamy, you don’t give a damn about anybody,” the man says.
Ramaswamy and his supporters have cited the Democratic attacks on him to justify the ad with Acton’s mom. In defending the ad Tuesday, Ramaswamy said Acton has been “spreading some defamatory, disparaging lies about me and my family that does deserve to be scrutinized.”
For Acton’s supporters, Ramaswamy’s latest ad vindicates her decision to skip debates.
“He doesn’t deserve it,” Rusnak said, “and he just proved it – point-blank.”
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.
Amy Acton opens up about her painful childhood after an attack ad featuring her estranged mother News Channel 3-12.
Hence then, the article about amy acton opens up about her painful childhood after an attack ad featuring her estranged mother was published today ( ) and is available on News channel ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Amy Acton opens up about her painful childhood after an attack ad featuring her estranged mother )
Also on site :
- BTS’ j-hope Joins Forces With Streetwear Legend Nigo for New Nike Sneakers: How to Shop the Drop
- Jasmine Mitchell Says ‘Great British Baking Show’ Editors Left Out One Surprising Moment From Her Season
- Oscar Nuñez, Marlene Forte, Otmara Marrero & Vivian Ruiz To Star In Adrian Cardenas’ Directorial Debut ‘In An Orderly Fashion’