Barack Obama went to Cleveland on Saturday to back two Democrats in the closest statewide races in Ohio, and to say what he thinks of the $4 million ad that has split Republicans. “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody can run an ad like that,” he told the crowd at Cleveland Public Auditorium. “There’s got to be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low.”
The ad, from Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign, features Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of Democratic nominee Amy Acton. Arthur calls her daughter a liar and questions her mental health. Acton has spoken publicly about being removed from her mother’s custody at 12 after abuse, and said Ramaswamy “released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse.” The campaign said Arthur was not paid for the video.
For Black voters in Ohio, the stakes are practical. The next governor and the Senate seat now held by appointed Republican Jon Husted will shape health care, schools and election rules in the state for years. Obama, the first Black president, won Ohio twice, and Cleveland, where Black residents are the largest racial group, is where Democrats need turnout most. He appeared with Acton and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to win back the seat Vice President JD Vance left.
Obama also aimed at President Donald Trump. “We’ve got two more years in this administration. That’s how our system of government works,” he said. “But you know what we’re not stuck with? We’re not stuck with the spineless Congress and Republican governors who are enabling lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference for working people.” He tied the election to tariffs, the war with Iran, gas prices and immigration, and portrayed Ramaswamy as an opportunist and Husted as a rubber stamp for the administration.
Trump had not answered Obama by name in the coverage available Saturday night. Asked earlier in the week about the ad, he played down its importance and said he did not think Ramaswamy was to blame for the strain between Acton and her mother. Vance said he was “a little bit disgusted” by Republicans “whining” about the spot, while Husted said he would not have run it. Donald Trump Jr. and Laura Loomer shared the video online.
Ramaswamy’s campaign did answer the rally. Spokesperson Connie Luck said: “Ohioans can’t afford a liberal governor who shows up for Obama but never shows up for them.” Ramaswamy’s own statement contrasted his statewide bus tour with the Cleveland event and cited “broken health care promises, higher premiums, a government that grew while Ohio families fell behind, and far-left activists.” Husted’s spokesperson, Amy Natoce, said the Obama and Brown pairing “should send shivers down Ohioans’ spines.”
The polling is mixed. A Marist survey had Acton ahead 50% to 43%, while other polls show Ramaswamy ahead or inside the margin of error. Ohio votes Nov. 3.
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