![\"Trump-endorsed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/UQVFU4NHOFHBJJALSLM26DWENM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt was a brutal rebuke from a newspaper that announced only months ago that it would no longer endorse candidates for major races.<\/p>\n
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Kyle Mazza\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n
CLEVELAND\u2013Ohio\u2019s biggest newspaper has torn up its own rules and endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy\u2019s Democratic rival\u2014saying his vile attack ad is completely disqualifying.<\/p>\n
In a brutal blow for the billionaire president and his billionaire choice for Ohio\u2019s next governor, The Plain Dealer\u2019s editorial board<\/a> declared on Sunday that they could not remain silent after Ramaswamy\u2019s campaign used the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton to attack her credibility.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump listens as Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during a rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, October 3, 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cA candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party,\u201d the board wrote of the attack ad Ramaswamy released last week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it. Today, we endorse Democrat Amy Acton for governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton arrives for a rally ahead of the midterm elections in Cleveland on October 24.<\/p>\n Shannon Stapleton\/REUTERS<\/p>\n The scathing editorial\u2013which comes just nine days before Election Day\u2013is particularly potent because the newspaper announced only months ago that it would no longer endorse candidates for governor, the U.S. Senate or the presidency following reader feedback that it should concentrate on down-ballot contests.<\/p>\n But the board argued it could not remain silent in the face of such a consequential election.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are moments when a community must decide what it stands for, when its institutions have a duty to speak and when silence itself becomes a statement,\u201d it wrote. <\/p>\n Get the Best of the BeastSign Up for The Swamp Newsletter<\/p>\n \u201cOhio has reached such a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Plain Dealer\u2019s rebuke comes after a bruising week on the campaign trail, where Ramaswamy\u2019s decision to turn Acton\u2019s family history into a political attack ad has threatened to overshadow his message on the issues facing Ohio voters.<\/p>\n Elaine Bayless, protesting outside a Ramaswamy campaign stop in Strongsville, said the ad was a disgrace. \u201cThey don’t believe that they can win this on the issues, so they decided to play dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n Farrah Tomazin\/The Daily Beast<\/p>\n The Daily Beast saw this firsthand as it traveled across the Buckeye State over the weekend\u2013from the shopping malls in Strongsville and the pumpkin shows of Circleville, to downtown Cleveland and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have told him to put out that ad,\u201d said MAGA supporter Henry Nickel, who has spent the past few weeks knocking on doors around Youngstown to bridge what he admits was an \u201centhusiasm gap\u201d for Jon Husted, the GOP Senate candidate whose body Trump has bizarrely thirsted over.<\/a><\/p>\n Senator Jon Husted shakes hands with US President Donald Trump at a rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, US, October 3, 2026.<\/p>\n Nickel, however, remains more optimistic than other GOP members, who fear that Ramaswamy\u2019s ad scandal could now affect Husted\u2019s chances of holding on to his must-win Senate seat over Democrat candidate Sherrod Brown. <\/p>\n Other Republicans declared they would not vote for Ramaswamy or Acton to be their next governor at all, undercutting the very thing Trump\u2019s rallies are designed to do: turn out the vote. <\/p>\n \u201cIf one must sell one\u2019s soul and reject decency to be elected to office in Ohio, then I praise my Savior and Protector that @ohiogop pushed Dave out of the race a year before the primary,\u201d Darlene Yost, the wife of former Ohio attorney general Dave Yost, wrote on X. \u201cLord forgive us – and save our republic.\u201d<\/p>\n The ad featured Acton\u2019s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar. But it omitted the history of alleged abuse that led to Acton being removed from her mother\u2019s custody at age 12, after her stepfather was charged with raping her.<\/p>\n Acton said that Arthur defended her stepfather, whom she accused of sexual assault.<\/p>\n Ramaswamy, however, doubled down, emboldened by Trump and vice president JD Vance\u2019s support.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies, including during this campaign,\u201d the billionaire biotech entrepreneur said during a campaign event.<\/p>\n By Saturday, however, his campaign quietly altered the original 60-second version with a 30-second edit, which dropped footage of Acton\u2019s mother disputing her account of childhood homelessness.<\/p>\n The shift came hours before Acton appeared on stage with Barack Obama in Cleveland, where the former president delivered a scorched-earth rebuke of Ramaswamy, saying there was almost nothing he wouldn\u2019t do to get into the limelight.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,\u201d he told the packed crowd at Cleveland\u2019s Public Auditorium.<\/p>\n Acton also addressed the issue at the rally, telling her supporters: \u201cYou probably heard by now, as a young child, my brother and I experienced a lot of child abuse and neglect.<\/p>\n Obama portrayed Trump as an agent of \u201cchaos and cruelty\u201d and a man of broken promises.<\/p>\n Shannon Stapleton\/REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cWe moved countless times as kids, and even wound up living in a tent in the middle of winter. And now my opponent has chosen to intentionally exploit my childhood to save his struggling campaign but it\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n The Plain Dealer is Ohio\u2019s largest publication. Its editorial not only condemned the ad but also Ramaswamy\u2019s refusal to answer questions about his policy positions.<\/p>\n Ohio gubernatorial Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to the media after a campaign stop during his 2026 Ohio Republican Bus Tour in Strongsville, Ohio, US, October 23, 2026. REUTERS\/Shannon Stapleton<\/p>\n Shannon Stapleton\/REUTERS<\/p>\n On the other hand, Acton, a former director of the Ohio Department of Health who previously served in Republican Governor Mike DeWine\u2019s cabinet, was prepared to lead, it said.<\/p>\n \u201c[Acton] has earned consideration on her own record, her preparation and her commitment to the people she seeks to serve,\u201d the paper wrote.<\/p>\n Ramaswamy\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Unlock a year of full access to The Daily Beast for $35.<\/p>\n What’s IncludedUnlimited access (web + app)Exclusive ad-free newslettersCommenting accessDaily crosswordSneak peek of launches & events<\/p>\n Auto-renews at $5.99 monthly. Cancel anytime<\/p>\n What’s IncludedDiscounted annual rate – Save 47%Unlimited access (web + app)Exclusive ad-free newslettersCommenting accessDaily crosswordSneak peek of launches & events<\/p>\n Auto-renews at $59.99 yearly. 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