Trending
Vivek Ramaswamy's controversial television ad attacking Dr. Amy Acton, featuring her estranged mother, will no longer appear during the final days of the hotly contested Ohio governor's race.
The ad, originally one minute long and cut to 30 seconds, featured Donna Arthur, Acton's mother calling her daughter -- the Democratic gubernatorial candidate -- a liar and urging Ohioans not to vote for her.
Acton has said she has not seen or spoken to her mother since 1978, when Arthur lost custody of her two children after her husband was arrested and charged with raping Acton. Cledith and Donna Arthur later fled Ohio and Acton's stepfather was never brought to trial on the rape charges. He died in 2004 in Pennsylvania.
The ad created a nationwide firestorm and resulted in several Ohio Republicans -- including Gov. Mike DeWine and four former state governors -- criticizing the Ramaswamy campaign. DeWine, who endorsed Ramaswamy, urged the GOP gubernatorial candidate to stop running the ad.
The Columbus Dispatch first reported that the ad would not appear again.
"It ran to completion, and we've put up four other ads," Ramaswamy said during a campaign stop Thursday in Vandalia, according to the newspaper.
NBC News and The Washington Post also reported Thursday night that the Ramaswamy campaign confirmed the ad had run its course on television.
"It rotated off like any ad would," a Ramaswamy campaign official told The Washington Post.
The Acton campaign reacted quickly in a late-afternoon press release.
"Vivek Ramaswamy should never have run his despicable ad in the first place, and it's totally unsurprising that he took it off the air in the most cowardly way possible, without even the hint of an apology to Dr. Acton, her family, or to the people of Ohio," said Addie Bullock, a spokesperson for the Acton campaign."