Ramaswamy accuses Acton of ‘lying’ about attack ad, but court records contradict claim made by Acton’s mother in ad
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, accused his Democratic opponent, Dr Amy Acton, of “lying about lying” in her outraged response to an attack ad released by his campaign.
“We ran an ad about lying,” Ramaswamy argued on Friday, “it had nothing to do with childhood abuse”. Instead, the Republican claimed, his opponent was lying “about her history”.
The Ramaswamy campaign ad features Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, accusing the daughter she lost custody of in 1978, after her second husband was charged with raping her then 12-year-old daughter, of lying about her childhood.
According to police and court documents obtained by the Associated Press, Arthur’s second husband, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978, when Acton was between 10 and 12 years old.
Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. Donna Arthur fled the state with her husband, who later died.
Philip Stearns, Acton’s brother, said in a statement denouncing the ad that after his stepfather was arrested “and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”
In the attack ad, Donna Arthur called her daughter “a liar” and said “she lies about her past; she says she grew up living in a tent, none of that is true.” That part of the ad uses stock video of a tent that had previously appeared in a biographical ad from Acton’s campaign, in which the candidate described her troubled upbringing. “I think it was somewhere off Route 7,” the candidate recalls. “I was 12, and we were living in a tent.”
A copy of the 1978 arrest warrant for Cledith Arthur, posted online on Friday by Nick Evans, a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal, suggests that Acton was telling the truth. The warrant lists a campground off Ohio Route 7 in Rogers, Ohio as Cledith Arthur’s address.
“In 1982, after the Arthurs had skipped bail and fled Ohio, a deputy attempted to serve a warrant at” the same campground, Evans reports. “In a hand written note, the deputy relays that the park’s manager said Arthur ‘has not camped here for over two years.’”
Key events
At Florida rally, Trump again shows CNN video on his support from Maga Republicans
Before Donald Trump finished his remarks in Florida, he took a moment to show supporters one of his favorite clips – part of a segment from CNN, in which the network’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, discussed the fact that recent polling shows Trump’s support among self-described “Maga Republicans” had only declined from 99% to 98% since 2024.
Given that Maga Republicans are people who define themselves as supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, that is perhaps unsurprising. What Trump failed to mention is that the same CNN analyst has more recently tracked the sharp decline in Trump’s support among Republicans, and the broader public.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump touted the justice department lawsuit that attempts to block the Senate race certification in Alaska, if the incumbent Republican that he has endorsed there loses. “I’m the one that said do it,” Trump told reporters ahead of a campaign rally in Florida. More here
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Without evidence, the president claimed that Daniel J Sullivan, the retired schoolteacher and registered Republican running against the incumbent GOP senator Daniel S Sullivan, was “put up” by Democrats to siphon the vote against the Trump-endorsed candidate. A reminder that both Sullivans (no relation to one another) will be competing against Mary Peltola, the former Democratic congresswoman, who is currently leading in many polls against the incumbent Sullivan.
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Earlier, Trump doubled down on his support for Vivek Ramaswamy’s widely condemned ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in the Ohio governor’s race, Amy Acton. “If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so, but my mother thought I was wonderful,” Trump said in response to Monica Alba, a reporter from NBC News.
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Outside the White House on Friday, Trump scolded Alba, the reporter who followed up with questions about Acton’s childhood, and whether that changed the president’s perspective on the ad. “You’re a horrible little reporter, aren’t you?” Trump said, while continuing to ignore the myriad questions about the number of Republicans who have disavowed the ad. A reminder that Acton was removed from her mother’s care when she was 12, after her stepfather was charged with sexually abusing her. Her mother, Donna Arthur, fled the state with her husband, before his trial, and remained married to him until his death in 2004.
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Susan Collins, the vulnerable Republican senator in Maine vying for a sixth term in office, said that she had secured additional tariffs exemptions on Canadian products that are crucial to her state’s agricultural industries. “Many of our farmers and growers rely on specialized equipment, packaging materials, and other products from Canada that are either unavailable from American suppliers or cannot be replaced without incurring significant expense,” Collins said in a statement.
As part of the slew of midterm campaign promises that the Trump administration has made in recent days, the president said that he will invest $250m “to hire at least 5,000 new nurses in elder care facilities all across America”, focused particularly on Florida.
This comes after the president announced $8bn financial aid package for American farmers during a campaign rally in Kansas earlier this week, and JD Vance, the vice-president, announced a $1.3bn investment in domestic fertilizer manufacturing.
Trump falsely claims that other Dan Sullivan on Alaska ballot is ‘cheating’
As we bring you the news about the justice department lawsuit against Alaska, that Donald Trump said he ordered, the president doubled down on his baseless claims that the ballot for US Senate Alaska is an attempt to confuse voters.
A reminder that there are two Dan Sullivans up for election in the pivotal race. Dan S Sullivan, the Trump-backed Republican incumbent, will face Dan J Sullivan, the retired schoolteacher who is also a registered Republican. On stage, Trump suggested again, without evidence, that this is a move orchestrated to boost Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee.
“So the Democrats maybe here they’re not so dumb … It’s cheating like hell, but it’s not the dumbest thing in the world,” Trump said.
Susan Collins announces tariff exemptions on Canadian products ahead of competitive re-election race in Maine
Susan Collins, the vulnerable Republican senator in Maine vying for a sixth term in office, said that she had secured additional tariffs exemptions on Canadian products that are crucial to her state’s agricultural industries.
“Many of our farmers and growers rely on specialized equipment, packaging materials, and other products from Canada that are either unavailable from American suppliers or cannot be replaced without incurring significant expense,” Collins said in a statement. “In my repeated conversations with ambassador [Jamieson] Greer, secretary [Howard] Lutnick, and other senior administration officials, I have asked for tariff relief for these important products.”
Collins has positioned herself as a moderate Republican, comfortable breaking with Donald Trump, and touted the millions in federal funds she’s directed back to Maine as chair of the powerful Senate appropriations committee.
Throughout campaigning the GOP incumbent has distanced herself from many of the administration’s unpopular policies – particularly in a state that Trump has lost in the past three presidential elections.
In one of the Senate debates against her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, Collins said she has been “the most outspoken opponent of the tariffs on Canada”.
“Canada is not China. It’s our neighbor and our friend,” she said.
Today, Collins said that she will “continue working directly with administration officials to seek additional relief and encourage a broader trade agreement with Canada”.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report that the administration was expected to remove 50% tariffs on some Canadian agricultural and forestry products in a bid to help Collins in the final stretch of the campaigning.
David Smith
Reporting from Austin
James Talarico, the Democrats’ big hope for the US Senate in Texas, cast his vote in Austin on Friday and warned of voter suppression efforts by Republicans seeking to retain power.
“I was proud to cast my ballot today and I voted to send this movement that we’ve built in Texas to Washington DC,” said Talarico, 37, wearing a dark blue jacket, white open collar shirt and blue jeans. Predicting “something extraordinary, something historic” on 3 November, he added: “We’re gonna shock the nation and shock the world when we take back Texas.”
No Democrat has won statewide office in the Lone Star State since 1994 but an Emerson College Polling/ Nexstar Media survey released on Thursday found that 48% of voters support Talarico while 46% favour Republican Ken Paxton, the scandal-tainted state attorney general.
Talarico’s campaign has recruited 60,000 volunteers to knock on doors and make calls, while Paxton has received huge financial backing from tech billionaire Elon Musk and other outside groups.
Speaking to reporters in sunshine outside the Gustavo Garcia Recreation Center, where there was a steady flow of early voters, Talarico warned: “The people at the top are terrified of this movement we’re building in Texas and they’re doing everything they can to cling on to power. They have already poured more than $200m into our state to try to stop our movement. That is more than any Senate race in American history and more is on the way in the final days of this election.
“And they have made it harder to vote here in Texas. They have put more than a million people on the suspense list. They have mishandled voter files and they have closed polling locations across Texas, which means longer wait times, longer commute times to polling locations. And they’re hoping that that will mean lower voter turnout.”
Talarico, who did not take questions, nevertheless remained hopeful that “people power” would prevail, as reflected by historic turnout numbers so far. He did not mention Paxton by name but vowed: “We are going to make history in this state when we beat the most corrupt politician in Texas and take back our state.”
‘I’m the one that said do it’: Trump touts lawsuit to block Senate race certification in Alaska
Speaking to reporters in Florida, Donald Trump touted the justice department lawsuit that attempts to block the Senate race certification in Alaska, if the incumbent Republican that he has endorsed there loses.
“I’m the one that said do it,” Trump said, while standing alongside Ron DeSantis, the GOP governor of Florida.
Without evidence, the president claimed that Daniel J Sullivan, the retired schoolteacher and registered Republican running against the incumbent GOP senator Daniel S Sullivan, was “put up” by Democrats to siphon the vote against the Trump-endorsed candidate.
“I don’t think he ever voted before,” Trump said of the Republican challenger. “All of a sudden he decides to run for the Senate, and his name is Dan Sullivan. One is Daniel S. One is Daniel J. The Daniel J is the fake. And he wants to change his middle initial to Daniel S, but he said this has nothing to do with politics.”
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said that the justice department’s lawsuit against Alaska – seeking to pause the US Senate race’s certification in the event that the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses – is “an unprecedented intervention by the federal government”.
In a statement, Becker added that the administration had “absolutely no authority to tell Alaska when or how to certify the results of its Senate election”.
Attempting to intervene “at this late stage” is “entirely against department policy”, Becker said. “There is no legitimate enforcement of federal law here, and it raises serious concerns about political interference”.
Becker also said that he could not recall an administration “ever attempting to stop the certification of an election – and certainly not 11 days before polls close”.
What early voting numbers can tell us about the midterms so far
With just 11 days until the midterms, early voting data is rolling in nationwide. Democrats need to net four Senate seats and hold 218 House seats to reclaim a congressional majority. Here is where the numbers stand so far:
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Turnout is surging in key battlegrounds: More than 22 million Americans have already voted in person or by mail. According to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, battleground states – including Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Florida and North Carolina – have each passed 900,000 ballots cast as of 21 October. Turnout is being driven in part by widespread voter frustration, reflected in Donald Trump’s record-low approval ratings.
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Democrats lead in early returns: Registered Democrats account for 45% of early ballots cast, compared with 30% from Republicans (tracking returned ballots, not candidate selection). The party gap is particularly pronounced in North Carolina, Kansas and Iowa. While Republicans traditionally favor election day voting, strategists worry this widened margin signals a “red undertow” – GOP voters staying home due to frustration over high gas prices, the conflict in Iran and sweeping tariffs.
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Early votes are pacing well ahead of 2022: In Georgia, early votes already represent more than 37% of the total turnout from the 2022 midterms. Texas and North Carolina sit at 33%, while Florida is at 27%. We’re seeing similarly high paces recorded in Michigan and Ohio too.
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Mail-in voting remains resilient: Almost 57m mail-in ballots have been requested or sent nationally – greater than the 52m requested in 2022, according to NBC News (using data from TargetSmart). Despite executive orders from the Trump administration attempting to restrict mail-in voting, which the supreme court struck down in September, voters continue to utilize the process at pre-pandemic rates.
The astonishing battle between the dueling Dan Sullivans in the Alaska US Senate race has resulted in the president weighing in to urge voters in the state, which he won by 13 points in 2024, to “VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN”, during the August primary.
Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Daniel J Sullivan – who is challenging the two-term incumbent – is an “impostor”.
Meanwhile, many Republicans across the country have accused the former teacher, who lives in Petersburg – a town of about 3,000 people in the southern part of the state – of being a Democratic plant in place to cannibalize votes from Dan S Sullivan.
Pivoting back to the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against the state of Alaska.
The federal government argues in the complaint that “the sole purpose” of Dan J Sullivan’s of candidacy is to “benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan”.
As a result, “there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity”, it writes.
The administration is calling for there to be a pause in certifying the vote in Alaska “pending an investigation” to determine whether votes that are cast for Dan J Sullivan were actually meant to be for the Republican incumbent.
Voting rights experts say, however, the basis for the lawsuit is thin given the fact that any meaningful probe into voters’ preferences after they have voted would be practically impossible to conduct.
In June, the Alaska supreme court ruled that the Dan J Sullivan could remain on the ballot, despite the frustration it has caused the Trump administration and national Republicans hoping that the incumbent Sullivan can win against Peltola, a moderate Democrat, in their bitter fight for a Senate seat that could deliver Democrats a key victory in their path for control of the upper chamber of Congress.
Trump doubles down on support for widely condemned Ramaswamy ad, scolds reporter for asking about GOP backlash
As the president headed to Florida, for his fifth midterm campaign rally of the week, he doubled down on his support for Vivek Ramaswamy’s widely condemned ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in the Ohio governor’s race, Amy Acton.
“If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so, but my mother thought I was wonderful,” Trump said in response to Monica Alba, a reporter from NBC News.
A reminder that Acton, the public health official who is leading Ramaswamy in polls, was removed from her mother’s care when she was 12, after her stepfather was charged and indicted for sexually abusing Acton. Her mother, Donna Arthur, fled the state with her husband, before his trial, and remained married to him until his death in 2004.
While several Republicans have disavowed the ad, where Arthur calls her daughter “a liar”, and urged Ramaswamy’s campaign to take it down, Trump has encouraged the opposite. Outside the White House on Friday he scolded Alba, the reporter who followed up with questions about Acton’s childhood, and whether that changed the president’s perspective on the ad.
“You’re a horrible little reporter, aren’t you?” Trump said, while continuing to ignore the myriad questions around Arthur’s credibility and background.
“This is a person, a mother, a smart woman,” Trump added. “This has nothing to do with the stepfather or anything else … the mother of a person running for governor of one of the greatest states, where I set records, said that she’s a liar. Her daughter’s a liar.”
“Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother that says that? Why? Why would you miss NBC? Why wouldn’t you listen?” he said, while telling Alba to be “quiet”.
The Trump administration’s targeting of Alaska’s US Senate race is particularly consequential as Democrats have been making waves in flipping the red-leaning state.
Alaska’s Democrats believe circumstances have aligned for them to win a slew of competitive elections in the 3 November midterms. The Senate seat currently held by two-term Republican Dan Sullivan is a top prize.
If Democratic candidate Mary Peltola were to win the election next month, she would be the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.
Read more:
Donald Trump spoke to the British Foreign Office today, he told reporters at the White House.
Trump said that he discussed opening up the North Sea’s oil during a conversation with British prime minister Andy Burnham.
He also said that Canada was “working very hard” to make a trade deal with the US. “I hate to say this, but we have all the cards,” he said, referring to a trade deal with Canada. “Just like I told Zelenskyy, we have all the cards.”
When asked if he was aware of who ordered the Starlink access in Ukraine to be restricted, Trump replied: “Well, I wouldn’t tell you if I did know. I have no idea. But I wouldn’t tell you if I did know.”
He also said that he had not spoken to Elon Musk regarding the issue, but suggested he would do so if the access wasn’t fixed.
Justice department files lawsuit to challenge results of Alaska Senate race
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Alaska’s and its election division, to block the certification of the state’s US Senate result if the Republican incumbent on the ballot doesn’t win.
The DoJ claims there could be “voter confusion” about the two GOP candidates on the ballot named Dan Sullivan – which might influence the race’s outcome in favor of the Democratic nominee, Mary Peltola.
A reminder, the Republican incumbent Dan S Sullivan will be competing against Peltola and another candidate named Daniel J Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher also running as a Republican.
The incumbent senator will appear on the 3 November ballot in Alaska with the words “(Registered Republican) Incumbent” next to his name to make it clearer for voters.
Since the Last Frontier uses ranked-choice voting in their elections, Alaskans will now rank the four candidates up for election in November. Their aim is to secure at least 50% of the vote in order to win the seat outright. However, Trump has routinely disparaged the voting method, calling it a “scam” and encouraging voters to support a ballot measure in the state to repeal it.
