December, 19 2019, 11:00pm EDT
350 Action Responds to Final Democratic Debate of 2019
Last night, the 7 top Democratic Presidential hopefuls gathered in Los Angeles for their final debate of the year, held by PBS and Politico. After a year of pressure from organizers, activists and concerned voters demanding more airtime and significant climate questions in the debates, viewers were given the longest and strongest discussion on the climate crisis yet.
Los Angeles, CA
Last night, the 7 top Democratic Presidential hopefuls gathered in Los Angeles for their final debate of the year, held by PBS and Politico. After a year of pressure from organizers, activists and concerned voters demanding more airtime and significant climate questions in the debates, viewers were given the longest and strongest discussion on the climate crisis yet.
Sanders, Warren and Steyer led the pack with commitments to prioritize the climate crisis while tackling environmental racism and creating millions of new jobs through the Green New Deal. Mr. Steyer challenged Mayor Buttigieg to prioritize the crisis more in his campaign.
While the remaining candidates reinforced the existential importance of the climate issue, they continued to offer half measures including Klobuchar's baseline commitment to rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, Buttigieg's reliance on a carbon tax, and Yang's insistence on dangerous false solutions like nuclear expansion.
350.org North America Director Tamara Toles O'Laughlin made the following statement:
"As we enter the climate decade, we can see the progress we've made on raising the national profile of the climate crisis. Last night's climate discussions were the result of the pressure and influence of our movement on the debates over the course of this election season. We've put Presidential candidates and the media on notice to ensure that real action to combat the climate crisis is centered with other critical issues of justice. We are pleased to see public media, PBS, and Politico step up to the plate with the most robust climate questions to date.
"Candidates have gone from paying lip service, to speaking with real literacy on climate issues. We have raised the standard to include ending new fossil fuel leases on public lands, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, ending subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and committing to 100% renewable energy.
"Unfortunately there are still concerning differences between climate leaders like Sanders, Warren and Steyer's plans for rapid, just decarbonization of the US economy and more middle-of-the road plans from candidates like Vice President Biden and Mayor Buttigieg. We don't have time for half-measures or false solutions. That's why 350 Action has launched petitions to pressure Biden and Buttigieg to up their climate game if they want to really compete in this new decade."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
LATEST NEWS
'Palestinians Face Far Worse Consequences Every Day,' Says Brad Lander After Release From IDF Custody
"These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes," said the US congressional candidate.
Oct 21, 2026
Democratic US congressional candidate Brad Lander said Wednesday that he was released by Israeli forces with a "warning" after he and dozens of others were detained while helping Palestinians harvest olives in the illegally occupied West Bank.
"Several dozen rabbis and participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention," Lander, who is Jewish, wrote on social media. "They should all be released immediately. To be clear: Palestinians face far worse consequences every day. These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes."
Prior to his release, Lander posted a video from a bus that he said was "taking us away for processing" after settler security called the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the group harvesting olives.
"Let's be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law," said Lander, who is running to represent New York's 10th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. "Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law."
I’ve been released from IDF custody with a “warning,” apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee).But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention.
[image or embed]
— Brad Lander (@bradlander.bsky.social) 9:34 AM · Oct 21, 2026
Lander was part of a group of around 80 American and Israeli rabbis and activists who were detained by the IDF on Wednesday as they helped Palestinians harvest olives from a grove near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Israeli lawyers told NPR that the incident marked "the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade."
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the US-based advocacy group J Street, said in response to the detentions that "when the government of Israel and its military and law enforcement are arresting rabbis and volunteers who have journeyed 6000 miles to protect Palestinian farmers harvesting olives and not the violent terrorists harassing and attacking the farmers—it tells you all you need to know about this government's moral compass."
"This illegal and immoral occupation must end," he added.
The mass detention came after several recent instances of horrific Israeli settler violence against Palestinian olive harvesters, European diplomats, and an American journalist.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement earlier this week that "Israel’s apartheid system is turning the olive harvest into a season of horror for Palestinian families across the occupied West Bank."
“States must recognize that settler attacks are not isolated acts, but a central policy of the Israeli state," said Morayef, calling on nations to "take concrete measures to respect their obligations under international law and to avoid complicity in Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinians by halting all trade, investment, and cooperation that contribute to maintaining the unlawful occupation, apartheid, and the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing."
"Hiding behind empty rhetoric is not only cowardly, it is enabling further abuses," she added. "For Palestinians, it continues to be deadly.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Pentagon Officials Reportedly Ready to 'Spill Their Guts' to Help Get Hegseth Impeached
"Through his arrogance, he’s made many former allies willing to work with Democrats to hold his feet to the fire for all the damage he’s done to our military."
Oct 21, 2026
With polls showing Democrats in good position to retake at least one chamber of the US Congress, several Pentagon insiders are reportedly lining up to offer up damaging information about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in hopes that a new Democratic majority will impeach him.
According to a report published Wednesday by The Telegraph, current and former officials at the US Department of Defense are prepared to "spill their guts" about Hegseth to Democratic congressional investigators, who have "already made contact with potential whistleblowers."
Unnamed sources told The Telegraph that Hegseth has committed a number of "costly blunders" during his tenure, while at the same making several enemies of career Pentagon officials.
“There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to very quietly go to the chair of the [US House Armed Services Committee]," one source said, "and are going to spill their guts, provide them with everything they can, and leak everything they can."
"It’ll be horrendous," the sources added. "It’ll be consistent embarrassment."
A second source described as a former senior Trump administration official outlined "huge problems" Hegseth faces from Pentagon officials eager to see him ousted.
"Through his arrogance," the source said, "he’s made many former allies willing to work with Democrats to hold his feet to the fire for all the damage he’s done to our military."
A third source described a wide range of motives for the Pentagon insiders who are willing to come forward, ranging from officials who simply dislike Hegseth to others who believe he's a "threat to national security."
Investigators have already identified several lines of inquiry into Hegseth's tenure, including his mishandling of classified information, his conduct during President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran, and his bombing spree of purported drug trafficking vessels that many legal experts consider acts of murder.
The Telegraph's sources acknowledged it would be difficult to convict Hegseth in the US Senate in the event that he's impeached by the House of Representatives, but there is hope that a relentless stream of damaging revelations could push Trump to fire him.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ramaswamy Takes Full Credit for Most 'Disgusting, Pathetic Ad Ever Created in the History of Political Ads'
The Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate's campaign is spending $4 million to promote the ad featuring his Democratic opponent's estranged mother, less than two weeks before Election Day.
Oct 21, 2026
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican Party's gubernatorial nominee in Ohio, confirmed on Wednesday that his campaign was behind a widely condemned attack ad featuring Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged biological mother, sparking fresh outrage less than two weeks before Election Day in the critical battleground state.
Ramaswamy went further than simply taking credit for the ad, whose origins were unclear when it first began circulating on social media earlier this week without mandatory disclosures—an apparent violation of federal law. Axios reported early Wednesday that his campaign is "doubling down on the message" with $4 million in spending to stream the minute-long spot statewide less than two weeks before Election Day.
Acton, a physician who is ahead of Ramaswamy in recent polling, accused Ramaswamy of exploiting her "deeply sick and unwell" mother "for his own political gain." In the 60-second spot—which one observer called "the most disgusting, pathetic ad ever created in the history of political ads"—Acton's mother accuses her daughter of lying about her past—a narrative that Acton forcefully rejected in a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday.
"Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me," said Acton. "Eventually, I confided in my father and stepmother, and we were removed from that situation. My birth mother’s husband was arrested, charged with rape, and indicted by a grand jury. At 12 years old, I testified in court. I haven't seen my birth mother since that day in 1978. She and her husband fled the state and he was declared a fugitive."
At a town hall in Westerville, Vivek Ramaswamy addressed a controversial ad featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother. https://t.co/Eup71qC4BU https://t.co/isW2M7FzvZ
— NBC4 Columbus (@nbc4i) October 21, 2026
Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, called Ramaswamy's ad "a despicable low" that "reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core—a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants."
Even as Ramaswamy received backlash from across the political spectrum, his campaign manager boasted to Axios that the ad marked "a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton."
Logan Phillips, an election forecaster and political reporter, offered a much different assessment.
"I think Ramaswamy just lost the race," Phillips wrote. "Amy Acton's mother stood by while her husband raped her at 12. They haven't talked since she lost custody in 1978. Millions of Ohioans are going to hear this story, and they will be offended that Vivek went this low."
Meghan Meehan-Draper, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, said in a statement Tuesday that "Ramaswamy should be ashamed of himself for giving airtime to yet another person who was complicit in acts of horrific sexual abuse—this time against Dr. Acton herself."
"This is part of a disturbing pattern from Ramaswamy," said Meehan-Draper, "who has mocked Dr. Acton for being an abuse survivor and just last week released an ad featuring a convicted child sex offender.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'I'd Like to Report a Theft': Sanders Mocks Corrupt Trump's Anti-Fraud Tipline
"A man inside our government illegally spent nearly $22 million in taxpayer dollars on bogus campaign ads praising himself," Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote. "He now resides on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Oct 21, 2026
US President Donald Trump, widely considered the most corrupt president in American history, announced a $25 million initiative on Tuesday designed to reward tipsters who report people defrauding the federal government.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) responded sardonically to the announcement, writing on social media, "I'd like to report a theft." Referencing the administration's illegal use of federal funds for pro-Trump propaganda, Sanders added: "A man inside our government illegally spent nearly $22 million in taxpayer dollars on bogus campaign ads praising himself. He now resides on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
"Taxpayers want to know when they’ll get their money back," the senator wrote.
Trump's new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program will be administered by the Justice Department and will offer up to $30,000 in taxpayer-funded rewards for tips that result in criminal charges. People can submit reports through a dedicated government website.
The president, who has profited massively from his second White House term and freely handed out pardons to convicted fraudsters, told reporters on Tuesday that he would "be the arbitrator" of who gets rewards under the new program. The first cash gift went to far-right YouTuber Nick Shirley, creator of a viral video on Minnesota childcare facilities that the Trump administration seized upon as a pretext to cut off funding to states.
"There's never been an incentive for anyone to ever expose fraud," Shirley said, falsely, at the White House on Tuesday.
Naomi Seligman, president of the advocacy group Whistleblower Aid, said in a statement that her organization "would of course applaud any legitimate program that supports lawful whistleblowing."
"However, President Trump has been overtly hostile to public interest whistleblowers who have bravely exposed fraud and corruption within his administrations," said Seligman. "If the president is truly interested in rooting out wrongdoing, Whistleblower Aid invites him to start by examining the violations perpetrated by his own administration, including senior officials. We would happily work with him on this vital accountability effort to help save our democracy."
Trump announced the new initiative on the same day that The New York Times published a story examining the case of Julio Herrera Velutini, a billionaire Venezuelan banker who "faced felony bribery charges in the United States and struck an unusually lenient plea deal in August 2025 for a misdemeanor campaign finance violation."
"But he felt that reduced charge was still a stain on his record," the Times noted, so he instructed his lawyer—a former member of Trump's personal legal team—to push the White House for a clemency agreement. Additionally, Herrera's daughter, an American citizen, made a $3.5 million donation to a pro-Trump super PAC.
"Then the Herrera family hired Alina Habba, who had been one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers and at the time was an adviser at the Justice Department. They offered her $10 million a year for four years along with a range of bonuses," the Times reported. "Under the agreement, Ms. Habba would become general counsel at Concord Partners, a company that Ms. Herrera set up in late October 2025 in Florida... She formally began her work for Concord Partners on January 1. Weeks later, Mr. Trump granted Mr. Herrera a full and unconditional pardon."
"Someone should send this to the new Trump fraud tipline," quipped Bulwark reporter Sam Stein.
Keep ReadingShow Less
1.5 Million Latinos Lost Food Aid Since Trump Passed Tax Giveaway for the Rich: Analysis
“As is so often the case, working families and communities of color bear the brunt of Trump’s economic policies."
Oct 20, 2026
An analysis published Tuesday estimates that 1.5 million US Latinos have lost access to federal food assistance since the passage of President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the latest of numerous indicators of how the law's evisceration of the social safety net is hitting working-class families while delivering enormous benefits to the wealthy.
The analysis by Unrig Our Economy and Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that in seven states alone—Texas, Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nebraska, and Iowa—771,687 Latinos have lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits since July 2025, when Trump signed the sweeping budget reconciliation package into law. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) contains the biggest cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in those programs' histories.
According to the analysis, Texas alone accounts for more than half of those losses, with an estimated 396,164 Latino residents losing food assistance, while Arizona has lost another 200,124 and New York has lost 92,816.
“The Republican tax law took food assistance away from more than 1.5 million Latinos to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations,” Leor Tal, campaign director for Unrig Our Economy, said in a statement. “Families are already struggling with the high cost of groceries and gas thanks to the war in Iran and tariffs. SNAP cuts make it even harder for Latino families—who are disproportionately impacted—to put food on the table.”
More broadly, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated earlier this year that SNAP enrollment fell by more than 5 million people between July 2025 and June 2026, while more than 1.5 million children lost assistance.
The OBBBA contains new SNAP qualification requirements for people experiencing homelessness, veterans, former foster youth, and older adults. The Trump administration says the new rules are meant to ensure that only the truly needy receive benefits. However, the more stringent requirements are harming some of the most vulnerable people, as compliance procedures have proved to be an exclusionary barrier to qualified aid applicants.
The SNAP cuts have fueled what the New York Federal Reserve Bank in May called a “remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children.”
“The results are in: Trump and his GOP allies in Congress cut critical nutrition assistance that helps millions of Latinos and working people across the country meet their basic needs—all to deliver historic tax giveaways to billionaires and business elites,” said Jodie Rubenstein, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.
“As is so often the case, working families and communities of color bear the brunt of Trump’s economic policies," Rubenstein added. "We cannot allow billionaire wealth to grow unchecked while communities go hungry.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Go Vote': Poll Shows 70% of US Voters Doubt Trump Will Accept GOP Walloping in Midterms
"Too many Americans fought and died for democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism will not prevail," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "We WILL win this election whether Trump likes it or not."
Oct 20, 2026
Seven in 10 Americans doubt President Donald Trump would accept the results of next month's midterm elections if Republicans suffer major losses, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Tuesday that spurred one progressive senator to implore people to get out and vote.
The poll, conducted October 9-13 among 2,545 US adults, found that just 28% were very or somewhat confident that Trump would accept the election results if Republicans lose, while 70% were not confident. Half of respondents said they were "not at all" confident he would accept a decisive GOP defeat.
While an overwhelming majority of Democratic respondents— 94%—and 77% of independents doubted Trump would accept a Republican midterm loss, 36% of Republicans also expressed doubts. Among Republicans, 63% said they were confident Trump would accept the results, although only a quarter were very confident.
Sixty-one percent of respondents also said they believe Trump is not committed to ensuring free and fair elections, up from 56% last year.
Still, the new polling suggests that confidence in Trump's willingness to respect electoral outcomes is substantially weaker than confidence in the voting process itself, as about 6 in 10 respondents said they were confident the midterms would be conducted fairly and accurately, while 65% said they believed that votes would be correctly counted.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) responded to the poll in a social media post urging Americans to vote in order to thwart Trump's attacks on democracy.
"Too many Americans fought and died for democracy," Sanders asserted. "Trump’s authoritarianism will not prevail. Go vote. We WILL win this election whether Trump likes it or not."
The poll's findings come as Democrats seek to regain control of Congress, and Trump continues to promote baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which his own administration's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called “the most secure in American history.”
According to the poll, Democrats are leading Republicans by eight percentage points among likely voters in congressional races, 52% to 44%. Trump has continued campaigning for Republican candidates as his approval ratings have tanked amid dissatisfaction over the economy and the illegal US-Israeli war of choice against Iran.
Trump campaigned on promises to tackle the affordability crisis and not wage new wars. As of last month, the benchmark consumer price index has soared by nearly 30% since Biden's administration, while Trump has ordered military attacks against 10 countries during his two terms—more than any president in modern history.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Just a Flat-Out Lie': Collins Says She Couldn't Have Known Kavanaugh Would Vote to Overturn Roe v. Wade
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," said a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes Maine.
Oct 20, 2026
As she faces a tough reelection fight in Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins is twisting the facts about her role in laying the groundwork for the US Supreme Court's overturning of abortion rights.
Throughout the campaign, Collins has been dogged by questions about her fateful decision in 2018 to cast a key vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the court. In 2022, he joined the court's conservative majority to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent, allowing states to impose severe new bans and restrictions on abortion.
In June, Collins—who has described herself as pro-choice—said she did "not regret" her vote to confirm Kavanaugh, falsely claiming that Roe was overturned by a 6-3 margin and was therefore doomed regardless of her vote. In fact, the precedent was overturned by a 5-4 margin, meaning Kavanaugh's vote proved decisive.
Now in a dead heat race with Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, who has repeatedly hammered her on abortion rights, Collins has continued to defend her confirmation vote. She's also kept fudging the truth.
“I’m very disappointed in his vote to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Collins said of Kavanaugh during an interview published Monday by Maine ABC affiliate WMTW. “There was no way for me to anticipate that.”
Collins had, in fact, been warned that Kavanaugh might overturn Roe v. Wade. In her October 5, 2018, speech supporting his confirmation, she explicitly acknowledged “the concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade” and noted that President Donald Trump had pledged to nominate judges who would do so.
Reproductive freedom advocates cautioned her that Kavanaugh was not being truthful when he said he considered Roe to be settled precedent, citing his history of ruling against abortion access and praising former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s dissent in Roe.
But Collins dismissed these advocates' warnings, arguing that Republican-appointed Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy had voted to reaffirm Roe despite opposition to some of their nominations from abortion rights groups. “Suffice it to say, prominent advocacy organizations have been wrong,” Collins said.
In this case, they were not. Lisa Margulies, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in Maine, said it was dishonest of Collins to plead innocence.
"It’s just a flat-out lie that Susan Collins had ‘no way’ of knowing Brett Kavanaugh would overturn our federal right to abortion," she said. "Mainers drove down to DC and begged her not to confirm him. They knew he was a direct threat to abortion, and so did Susan Collins."
"This is just another flimsy attempt to avoid responsibility for her actions," Margulies said. "Enough is enough. Mainers deserve better than a senator who will throw their rights under the bus and then refuse to acknowledge the harm done."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Consumers Are Feeling Spooked': Trump's Failed Economic Policies Send Price of Halloween Candy Soaring
"Trick-or-treaters will have to make due with miniature candy bars this year to accommodate Trump’s king-size price hikes."
Oct 20, 2026
President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran and his global tariffs have tag-teamed to jack up the price of Halloween candy, according to a report published Tuesday.
The new analysis by Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation finds that the price of popular Halloween candy has increased by more than 15% during the last year, which is several times the overall rate of inflation over the same period.
The biggest jump in price came from candy maker Mondelez, whose sour gummy candy variety pack saw its price shoot up by more than 39% in the last year.
Other notable price hikes included the Hershey variety pack, which increased by nearly 20%; the Ferrero chocolate pack, which increased by 19%; the Mars chocolate variety pack, which increased by over 13%; and Tootsie seasonal lollipops, which increased by over 7%.
The report notes that Trump's illegal Iran War and his aluminum tariffs have had an impact on candy prices by driving up packaging costs for sweets.
However, the report also points the finger at the candy companies, which have continued to raise prices even after receiving a tariff exemption for cocoa and getting refunds for illegal tariffs Trump charged them last year.
"Hershey’s profit margin jumped 50% year over year, helped by pocketing a $9 million tariff refund that never made its way back to shoppers," the report notes, "while Mondelez saw a similar 30% bump in margins."
Kyle K. Moore, chief economist at The Century Foundation, said that Trump's policies had helped turn "a fun family tradition into another terrifying bill."
"With debt and high prices eating into families’ Halloween budgets," said Moore, "it's no wonder consumers are feeling spooked."
Elizabeth Pancotti, vice president of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, pointed out that consumer sentiment recently hit record lows, as Americans are also struggling with the rising costs of gasoline and groceries.
"Trick-or-treaters will have to make due with miniature candy bars this year to accommodate Trump’s king-size price hikes," Pancotti said.
A Sunday report in The Cleveland Plain Dealer highlighted an additional reason for the high price of Halloween candy: The price of sugar, which has been affected by "poor weather and weaker production forecasts in several major sugar-producing regions."
A survey released earlier this month by Lending Tree found that Americans expect to spend significantly less on Halloween overall this year, with 23% saying they plan to buy fewer overall Halloween items compared to a year ago, while 24% said they expected to go into debt while celebrating the holiday.
Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last week showed inflation in September rising to its fastest level in six months, driven in large part by costs related to the Iran War.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Pathetic Excuse for a Man': Ramaswamy Slammed Over Ad Featuring Acton’s Estranged Mother in Ohio
Acton's brother said the ad was a "despicable low," noting that their mother stood by their stepfather after he was charged with raping Acton at the age of 12.
Oct 20, 2026
With just two weeks left until Election Day, Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is drawing criticism from across the political spectrum over a vicious attack video featuring his Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother, whom she has accused of abandoning her after she was sexually abused as a child.
The 60-second video, which surfaced on social media Monday and was amplified by conservative accounts, features Donna Arthur, Acton’s biological mother, urging Ohioans to vote against Acton and accusing her of lying about experiencing homelessness and living in a tent during her childhood.
"I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar," Arthur said. "She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire life."
After the ad went viral on social media, Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, accused Ramaswamy of sinking to "a despicable low." In a statement Tuesday, he noted that "after he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died."
Stearns called the ad an "attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point."
It remains unclear who produced the ad, which contains no sponsorship disclosure indicating whether Ramaswamy's campaign or a supporting political action committee was behind it. Acton's campaign, however, has blamed her opponent.
Ramaswamy's political allies have previously attacked Acton over therapy she received following the abuse. Ramaswamy himself drew criticism in April after claiming that his opponent had no vision for Ohio "other than to complain about what someone else did to her."
“This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core,” Stearns said, describing him as “a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”
Though President Donald Trump won Ohio by double digits in 2024, several recent polls show Acton with a substantial lead over Ramaswamy, a staunch ally of the president.
In a statement to HuffPost, the Ramaswamy campaign did not take credit for the ad, but defended its substance.
"We don't know what happened between Amy and her mother, who first spoke out about Amy in 2020, but we know that Amy Acton is a serial fabulist who has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of before deciding who to entrust as governor," said Connie Luck, a spokesperson for the Ramaswamy campaign.
She added: “Everyone who knows [Acton] best—her former boss, her former state colleagues, her fellow physicians, and now her own mother—are clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her. Ohioans deserve to know that.”
Acton has spoken on the campaign trail about the hardships she experienced as a child and has made them central to her pledge to make life more affordable for struggling Ohio families.
"I know what it feels like to go hungry, to not have enough," Acton said during an interview in August. "My brother and I actually were in a tent in the middle of winter growing up, so these problems are real to me."
She spoke about these experiences long before she ran for governor. In a 2019 profile by The Youngstown Vindicator, Acton—then serving as the director of Ohio's health department under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine—recounted a childhood marked by poverty, neglect, and abuse.
By age 12, she said, she and her brother, Stearns, had lived in roughly 18 different homes. She said her stepfather had already faced molestation allegations when her mother married him—a claim confirmed by newspaper reports and court records from the time. She said her family was living in a tent at a campground outside Youngstown in the winter when her stepfather raped her.
After charges were filed, Acton and her brother went to live with their biological father and his relatives, who had been granted custody. She recalled trying to kiss her mother goodbye at the courthouse, only for her mother to turn her cheek away.
"That was the last time I ever saw her," Acton said. According to the profile, her mother and stepfather subsequently fled town while he was out of jail on bond.
The attack on Acton has drawn bipartisan outrage.
Ohio state Rep. Allison Russo (D-7), who is running for secretary of state, described the ad as "among the most vile political attacks I’ve ever seen."
"Millions of adults from all walks of life are estranged from a parent, often because of childhood abuse and trauma that are far too common in our society," she said. "Exploiting that deeply personal pain for political gain is cruel, shameful, and deserving of unequivocal condemnation."
US Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) agreed that it was “one of the most despicable things I’ve ever seen in politics.”
"He’s arguably the most unlikable person in the history of people… because of stuff like this," he said of Ramaswamy. "By the end of the day, Ohioans will learn what happened to Amy as a 12-year-old girl, how her mother lost custody of Amy as a result, and what a disgrace Vivek is for pulling this."
Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.), who previously prosecuted child sexual assault cases, said that Arthur’s defense of her late husband despite her daughter’s assault allegation is something he has witnessed “too frequently.”
"A child victim discloses the abuse by a stepdad or mom’s boyfriend, and mom takes the abuser’s side because she can’t bear to think that she had exposed her own child to a monster," he said. "Mom is protecting mom—not the child."
He added that "Ramaswamy has embraced the Trumpian role of taking the side of the predator."
While right-wing influencers, including Donald Trump Jr., amplified the ad and treated it as a “bombshell” October surprise that could upend Acton’s campaign, some conservatives also expressed dismay.
GOP strategist Liz Mair called the ad "terrible" and said it is "going to remind people of that one family member who hates them for no rational reason at all and make them feel sympathetic towards Acton."
“In brief, it pushed me towards Acton, not away from her,” Mair continued. “And this is genuinely the only thing I’ve seen or read about Acton to make me think anything positive of her."
"It seems crazy to me [that] one would assume this would work and not backfire," said conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham. "An estranged mom from a rough childhood going straight to camera to trash her daughter as a trustworthy messenger?"
Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney predicted bluntly that "This ad could sink Vivek."
Keep ReadingShow Less
ADL, Creator of Infamous ‘Mamdani Monitor,’ Won't Even Say Trump's Name After Antisemitic Slur
The statement exposed the ADL as "a deeply unserious organization that has drifted far away from its stated mission, and one that has lost all credibility," said one critic.
Oct 20, 2026
A brief statement from the Anti-Defamation League sharing the history of the antisemitic term "shylock," made a day after President Donald Trump used the slur at a campaign rally, illustrated "two paths for American Jews," according to Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg.
"Throw in to fight for multiracial pluralistic democracy or seek junior partner status in the MAGA coalition," said Greenberg, who is Jewish. "This is where the latter path leads."
The ADL was founded in 1913 to protect Jewish people from antisemitic attacks, but has focused heavily on promoting the United States' support of Israel and conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel's violent treatment of Palestinians.
Considering the ADL's roots, Greenberg was among several observers who noticed that the group's response to Trump's recent comment on US Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) failed to mention the president by name.
Trump used the term to defend Marshall, a doctor, from criticism over his suing of more than 700 patients for their unpaid medical bills.
Marshall's opponents had portrayed him as “some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” said the president, who has used the term before. The word comes from the name of a Jewish moneylender in the William Shakespeare play "The Merchant of Venice," and has been used as an anti-Jewish slur indicating greediness and unfair lending practices.
In response to Trump's comments, the ADL wrote on social media that the term "is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community."
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy (CIP), called the ADL's response "meek and endangering response" that contrasted sharply with the ADL's treatment of progressive lawmakers who condemn Israel.
The ADL's focus on anti-Israel criticism has become especially pronounced in recent years, as Americans' sympathies have turned toward Palestinians and away from Israel's US-backed government and military, which has waged war on the entire population of Gaza since October 2023 and is pushing to violently force Palestinians out of the illegally occupied West Bank.
The group, led by CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, has been incensed by student-led protests demanding an end to US military support for Israel by the electoral victories and campaigns of numerous Palestinian rights supporters, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Last year, the ADL saw fit to launch a "Mamdani Monitor" aimed at tracking the popular progressive mayor's supposedly "antisemitic" policies. The monitor has highlighted Mamdani's revocation of New York City's recognition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, which has been rejected by dozens of Jewish historians and Holocaust experts who say it conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel.
If a Democrat used the term Trump did, said Matt Duss, executive vice president at CIP, "Jonathan Greenblatt would be knocking people over to get in front of a camera to condemn them by name, but it was Trump so it’s just a general public service announcement."
The statement exposed the ADL as "a deeply unserious organization that has drifted far away from its stated mission, and one that has lost all credibility," said Adam Carlson of Zenith Polls.
The group has previously come to the defense of Republican megadonor and Trump adviser Elon Musk, a vehement supporter of Israel, when he made what appeared to be a "Sieg Heil" Nazi salute at a Trump inaugural event. Greenblatt said the apparent salute was simply an "awkward gesture."
"The ADL is apparently too busy chasing down college students with 'Free Palestine' stickers," said Tariq Kenney-Shawa of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, "to worry about the president of the United States casually dropping some medieval-age antisemitism at a campaign rally."
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular