Vivek Ramaswamy’s effort to undermine Democratic rival Amy Acton’s account of childhood abuse has taken a dramatic turn after a previously unknown family member came forward to support her story.
Acton’s estranged mother, 82-year-old Donna Arthur, called her daughter a lifelong “liar” in a controversial campaign advertisement funded by Ramaswamy’s Ohio gubernatorial campaign.
At a campaign event Monday in Thornville, Ohio, the Republican candidate intensified his attacks, telling supporters he was “running against someone who is crazy, who is unstable, and who is a liar.”
But Our News Outlet has learned that Acton’s long-lost stepsister believes the candidate’s account of her childhood is credible, including her allegations that she was sexually abused by her stepfather and that the family spent time living in a tent.
The 62-year-old Youngstown woman, who requested anonymity, is the biological daughter of Cledith “Bud” Arthur, who married Acton’s mother, Donna, in 1975.
Speaking exclusively to Our News Outlet from the porch of her modest home in the former steel town, and at times breaking down in tears, she said Cledith Arthur raped her late sister, Christine, when Christine was about the same age as Acton.
“Yes, he raped her, and it was more than once,” she said.
At the time, Cledith was married to Theresa A. Arthur, the mother of the woman and Christine. Theresa died in July 2025 at age 87.
Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy has faced criticism from both parties over an advertisement featuring rival Amy Acton’s mother disputing her abuse allegations
The dispute centers on deeply personal experiences Acton has described publicly, including allegations that her stepfather sexually abused her during childhood
Christine died in December 2024 at 66. Her sister said the allegations, now airing across television screens during one of Ohio’s most divisive gubernatorial contests, have revived painful memories.
“It was a terrible time for our family, and it’s very hard to talk about it,” she said. “My brother won’t say anything at all. It’s a nightmare for us to relive what happened after all these years.”
“Christine was a wonderful person, but she was very damaged by it. It affected her, and it affected our whole family. Seeing it play out in this campaign and on television has brought back a lot of terrible memories.”
The Ramaswamy campaign advertisement features Donna Arthur calling her daughter a liar and rejecting Acton’s descriptions of poverty, homelessness and sexual abuse.
“Oh, I know they were homeless for a while and living in a tent,” Christine’s sister said, gesturing toward Youngstown’s north side, where she said Cledith lived for a period with his second family. “All of that is definitely true.”
Contemporary newspaper reports show that Cledith Arthur was charged with incest in 1974 in connection with allegations involving Christine.
Four years later, he was charged with raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Acton. After being indicted in 1978, he fled Ohio for Pennsylvania and was apparently never found by police. He died in 2004.
Arthur pleaded not guilty but left Ohio before the case went to trial, according to court records.
Acton’s stepsister, Christine Arthur (pictured), died in December 2024 at 66. She was allegedly abused by her father, Cledith Arthur, who was also accused of abusing his stepdaughter Amy Acton (Source: Borowski Funeral Services)
Youngstown Vindicator newspaper clippings show that Cledith Arthur was charged with rape in 1978
A separate clipping details the 1974 incest charge against Arthur, who died in 2004
Christine’s sister said she had little contact with her father after he married Donna, who remained married to him until his death.
“I hardly saw my father after he married Donna. I didn’t want to see him,” she said. “After knowing what he did to my sister, I have no doubt that he also assaulted Amy.”
She also recalled hearing that her father had molested another young girl who lived nearby, although she said she could not independently verify the claim.
“I specifically remember hearing that my father liked young girls,” she said.
“I think the ad was awful to put out there,” she added.
The advertisement appeared around October 20, in the final stretch of the closely fought November 3 election, as Ramaswamy sought to defeat Acton, a physician and former Ohio health director.
The original one-minute video features Donna Arthur, now 82, warning Ohio voters that her daughter cannot be trusted. In a lengthy 2020 interview with the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, Arthur similarly disputed Acton’s claim that she moved 18 times during her first 12 years and called her daughter a liar. She also described Acton’s allegation that Cledith raped her, along with Christine’s similar accusation, as “unfounded.”
“It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem,” Arthur says in the video.
Acton became estranged from her mother after allegations involving her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, who was charged with child molestation and accused of abusing Acton and another minor under 13
Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, appears in a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement urging Ohio voters not to support her daughter
“She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.”
Arthur tells voters not to elect her daughter, whom she says she has not seen since 1978.
Although he does not appear in the commercial, Ramaswamy acknowledged that his campaign produced it and said he committed $4 million to promoting the ad. The move drew criticism from some members of his own party.
President Donald Trump, however, defended the Republican candidate’s decision to keep the advertisement on the air.
Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, also denounced the commercial. He said their mother remained married to the man accused of abusing Acton even after the children were removed from the home.
“I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it,” Stearns said in a response video released by Acton’s campaign.
Acton has repeatedly described her unstable childhood in Youngstown, including periods when her family lived in a tent and moved between temporary homes.
She has said the last time she saw her mother was in a Youngstown courthouse when she was 12.
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy joins fellow Republicans at the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show in Circleville, Ohio, last Friday
“I went to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she turned away,” Acton recalled in a recent interview.
On Monday, the Ramaswamy campaign cut the advertisement to 30 seconds, removing Donna Arthur’s specific accusation that Acton fabricated parts of her past, including the account of living in a tent.
Arthur has spent years living on the margins, far from the political spotlight.
Our News Outlet located her in central Pennsylvania’s Boalsburg area, where she had been living in a silver Honda Civic, often accompanied by several cats.
For roughly two and a half years beginning in late 2023, she parked the vehicle in an upper lot at Calvary Church, a sprawling religious property covering 120 acres of rolling hills near Tussey Mountain.
Pastor Dan Nold said Arthur arrived with about four cats and slept in the front seat of her car, including through freezing Pennsylvania winters.
“We really tried to help her,” Nold told Our News Outlet as he spoke inside the church with two staff members.
“We offered to let her stay indoors during cold nights, but she refused. We did every kind of outreach we could. We tried to find family members, but she wasn’t interested in accepting help.”
Nold said his conversations with Arthur suggested she was “lucid,” though he believed she had a “hoarding issue” involving cats.
The situation became more challenging as Arthur’s unneutered cats continued reproducing. Eventually, Nold said, about 30 animals were living in or roaming around the vehicle and church grounds.
The church eventually asked Arthur to leave, but she refused.
“She wasn’t cooperative when we asked her to go,” Nold said.
“We ultimately had to go to the police and complete paperwork to have her removed. Officers arrived in a squad car and escorted her out. It was very difficult, and we felt terrible, but the situation with the cats had become uncontrollable.”
Arthur’s struggles involving animals began years earlier.
In 2021, while living in her car and working at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in Boalsburg, she came to the attention of authorities after cats and newborn kittens were left inside the locked vehicle during extreme heat, according to court records.
Harold Walstrom, a retired Humane Society police officer who handled the case, told Our News Outlet that temperatures inside the vehicle neared 120 degrees when he rescued the animals.
“It was a pretty bad situation,” he said. “I’ll never forget it.”
Walstrom said two kittens died—one before rescuers arrived and another later from heat exhaustion.
Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton campaigns with former President Barack Obama at a Cleveland rally on October 24
“Donna was very stubborn and extremely difficult to deal with,” Walstrom said.
“She was also completely opposed to having her cats spayed. She wouldn’t listen to anyone.”
Arthur was convicted of animal neglect and received a fine and non-reporting probation. In August 2023, however, the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated the conviction after ruling that her request for court-appointed counsel had been improperly denied.
The case was returned to the lower court for further proceedings. The appellate decision did not determine whether the underlying allegations were true.
In text messages to Our News Outlet, Arthur criticized the church and animal rescue groups.
She called Nold a “thoroughly corrupted lead pastor” and accused rescue workers of taking her cats and falsely claiming she had committed crimes.
Arthur, who reportedly now lives in her car in a state forest near Boalsburg, did not respond when Our News Outlet sent her screenshots of two newspaper reports detailing sexual-abuse allegations against her late husband—one involving his biological daughter Christine and the other involving Acton.
On Saturday, Acton appeared at a Cleveland campaign rally with former President Barack Obama. Asked about Trump and Vice President JD Vance defending the advertisement, she urged them to review the available evidence.
“I do hope they would look at the facts,” Acton told ABC News.
Our News Outlet has contacted Ramaswamy and his campaign spokeswoman, Connie Luck, for comment.
In Youngstown, Christine Arthur’s sister sees the controversy from a deeply personal perspective.
She said Christine graduated from Girard High School, worked with children with special needs in Las Vegas and later earned a bachelor’s degree. Christine died in Youngstown in December 2024, leaving behind a daughter and relatives who remember her warmth and sense of humor.
For people who knew about the events decades ago, the political advertisement has reopened wounds that had never fully healed.
“It was awful for our family,” Christine’s sister said. “We wish we could simply forget about it, but now all of this has come up and reopened old wounds.”
