JD Vance asks if Acton can govern: "worried about whether somebody says something mean about"

At a Cincinnati rally on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance commended Vivek Ramaswamy’s Ohio gubernatorial campaign for airing an advertisement featuring Amy Acton’s mother calling Acton dishonest. The commercial, which appeared online late Monday, drew criticism from both parties; Acton denounced it, while Ramaswamy confirmed his campaign made it and claimed Acton had avoided accountability and debates and had lied about him. Acton, Ohio’s health director during COVID, has publicly discussed abuse by her mother’s second husband and has said she has not spoken with her mother since age 12; her brother also criticized the spot. Vance urged rallygoers to focus on policy, criticized Acton’s COVID-era tenure, and then questioned whether she could handle the governor’s office given her response to criticism. The race is among Ohio midterm contests that could affect control of Congress.