On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance found himself defending a pretty tasteless political advertisement produced by Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Ohio governor. The commercial features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood. Acton has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather, who faced criminal charges, and that her mother failed to protect her.
She has not seen her mother since she was 12. Ramaswamy apparently considers this material worth spending $4 million to broadcast across Ohio. Vance—confronted with Republican criticism of the advertisement—suggested his GOP colleagues should stop complaining and concentrate on winning elections.
But is Ramaswamy actually making the business of winning more difficult? And we’re not just talking about Ohio, where Republicans are facing unexpectedly competitive races for governor and the U.S. Turns out, Vance’s own political future may be on the line.
As the vice president positions himself as a possible successor to Donald Trump in 2028, he has now attached himself to a politician who seems increasingly incapable of distinguishing between a clever provocation and a spectacular political mistake, to say the least. As of this morning, current Republican Governor Mike DeWine has called on Ramaswamy to take down the controversial advertisement. To make matters worse, Ramaswamy is not merely an ally Vance happens to support.
The two are longtime friends, Yale Law School contemporaries and products of southwestern Ohio. Vance has repeatedly campaigned for him and endorsed his gubernatorial ambitions. Their association is sufficiently established—enough so that Ramaswamy's failures invite questions about Vance's own political instincts.
And, thanks to Ramaswamy's latest exercise in political self-sabotage, Vance has acquired the dubious distinction of being the only man in Ohio who appears to think the governor's race needed more Vivek Ramaswamy. There is something almost touching about the consensus Ramaswamy has managed to manufacture. Republicans who ordinarily struggle to agree on the time of day have discovered a common cause in questioning his latest political maneuver.
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