Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy loaned his campaign $41.3 million. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
A single campaign ad has catapulted Ohio’s race for governor onto the national stage.
The ad – in which Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign deployed the estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton to call her a “liar” and dredge up abuse she experienced as a child – has drawn fierce bipartisan condemnation while dominating headlines from Columbus to Washington. The New York Times described it as “the most ruthless ad of the midterms.”
Ramaswamy’s campaign at first said it planned to spend $4 million to keep it on the air through Election Day. Less than a week later, that changed: Ramaswamy said Oct. 29 that the ad no longer would air. The Associated Press, citing data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, reported that the campaign spent only about $1 million on it – by far its highest-profile expenditure, but still just a fraction of its total spending.
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According to an OpenSecrets analysis of state campaign finance disclosures through Oct. 14, Ramaswamy spent $79.5 million while taking in $81.9 million – a fundraising total more than double the $37.6 million raised by Acton. But it didn’t all come from donors: The biotech billionaire lent $41.3 million – roughly half his fundraising total – directly to his campaign.
Those loans point to an “imbalance” in which rich candidates with “no real background in terms of political office” can fund their own campaigns, Ohio State University political science professor emeritus Paul Beck told OpenSecrets.
Even before the ad aired, the race was among the most closely watched gubernatorial contests in the country. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report updated its rating of the race on Oct. 23, shifting it from “toss-up” status to one considered competitive but leaning toward Acton – an assessment coinciding with the ad buy that brought an even more intense national spotlight to the contest.
OpenSecrets reached out to both the Ramaswamy and Acton campaigns for comment but did not receive responses from either.
‘The most famous ad’ in American politics
As the race entered its final stretch before Election Day, that polarizing spot has come to define the contest, said David Niven, a University of Cincinnati professor who studies political campaigns.
“It’s the most famous ad in the entirety of U.S. politics right now,” Niven told OpenSecrets.
In the ad, Donna Arthur – Acton’s birth mother – calls her daughter a “liar” and suggests she has mental health issues. Acton, who along with her brother experienced homelessness and abuse as a child, has said she hasn’t seen her mother in nearly 50 years. Cledith Arthur – Arthur’s husband and the children’s stepfather – was arrested in July 1978 and charged with raping Acton when she was 12, The Associated Press reported, citing police and court records.
Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury two months later. He failed to appear at a subsequent court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981, the AP reported. He has since died. Arthur ultimately lost custody of her children.
Ramaswamy’s campaign eventually acknowledged producing the ad, drawing widespread reaction.
Beck called the ad a “blockbuster” that ultimately favors Acton and “may have reverberations down the ballot.” Candidates and officials from both parties – including Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and every other living former full-term Ohio governor – have criticized it. However, President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance defended the spot. Trump called Acton “fair game” while Vance attacked Republican critics of the ad, saying he was “disgusted” by their reactions.
“It’s very unusual, in a [Republican] party that has perfected the right to remain silent, to hear these Republican candidates distancing themselves from a decision of one of their fellow Republican candidates,” Niven said.
Ramaswamy’s self-loans serve as ‘his own matching program’
The money in this high-stakes race extends far beyond a single ad.
State disclosures show Ramaswamy raised $40.2 million in contributions across the full campaign, compared with $35.8 million for Acton. But nearly half of Ramaswamy’s donor total – $19.5 million – came in 2025. Acton has outraised him in every 2026 reporting period, collecting $30.5 million in contributions this calendar year compared with Ramaswamy’s $20.8 million.
Ramaswamy, however, has relied on his personal fortune to bridge the gap. State records show he loaned his campaign $25 million on April 15, followed by three $5 million loans on Aug. 31, Sept. 23 and Oct. 8. Acton has reported no self-loans.
“I think the big headline in the race has been competitive fundraising, when you consider traditional, old-school, get-somebody-to-donate-to-your-campaign fundraising,” Niven said.
“Acton has basically matched Ramaswamy in that regard, and has even outraised him in conventional methods,” he added. “But when you add in self-funding – which Ramaswamy is at this point self-funding, basically, as much as the rest of his entire campaign has raised – he’s more or less created his own matching program.”
Both candidates accelerated their spending during the final stretch. Acton has spent $34 million overall, pouring the vast majority ($26.3 million) into the race between June 8 and Oct. 14. Her campaign made separate media buys of $2.1 million a week apart on Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.
Ramaswamy spent even more during that June-October period, pouring $51.2 million into the race over the same period. He made four separate expenditures of at least $4 million – all to Strategic Media Placement Inc. – including $7.9 million on Oct. 8, $6.9 million on Sept. 23 and $4.3 million on Sept. 9.
Both campaigns also must navigate the overcrowded airwaves driven by Ohio’s marquee Senate race.
More than $446 million has been spent on that contest – including $15.3 million by Republican incumbent Jon Husted, $63.3 million by Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown and $368 million by outside groups supporting or attacking those two candidates. With local television stations only having so much available air time to sell, ad space has become increasingly scarce and costly.
“All that TV time is harder to get because you’re trying to elbow out Brown and Husted and all of the outside spending in that race,” Niven said. “It does, to a slight extent, mitigate the funding imbalance for Acton, because so much of what Ramaswamy is spending on is lost in the cacophony of the Senate race ads that dominate.”
V-PAC, governors’ associations lead outside spending
Outside spending in the governor’s race is led by three groups – including a super PAC backing Ramaswamy that is funded by several high-profile billionaires.
The super PAC – V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims – raised $59.7 million and spent $47.6 million between January 2025 and Sept. 30, 2026, FEC records show. Known as Make America Greater during Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential bid, the committee entered October with $12.2 million in cash on hand. State filings show it has spent $44.4 million on the gubernatorial race since March 2025, deploying $38.6 million of that total since June to oppose Acton.
While the committee’s filings with the state do not list any donations, FEC records show a $5 million contribution on May 8 from Elon Musk – who was initially tapped along with Ramaswamy to run Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency in early 2025. V-PAC’s largest donor is Jeff Yass, the co-founder of trading firm Susquehanna International Group and the top donor to Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign. Yass contributed $20 million across three installments: $10 million on March 6, 2025, and $5 million on both Jan. 12, 2026, and March 27, 2026. OpenSecrets reached out to V-PAC for comment but did not receive a response.
State disclosures also show RGA Right Direction PAC – an arm of the Republican Governors Association – reported spending $9.6 million on ads. Although its state filings do not identify the target candidate, the group in September announced an ad campaign attacking Acton.
On the Democratic side, Ohioans for Lower Costs – backed by the Democratic Governors Association – has spent $24.3 million, allocating $18.5 million to oppose Ramaswamy and $5.8 million to support Acton. Of the $24 million raised by the committee, $11.5 million came in 10 installments between Sept. 1 and Oct. 9 from DGA Action, a federal super PAC. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed $2.5 million, including a $2 million donation on Oct. 9.
