拉马斯瓦米投放争议攻击广告引发共和党内部公开分歧Ramaswamy Attack Ad Targeting Acton Divides Republicans in Ohio Race

拉马斯瓦米的竞选广告于周一开始在网络流传，随后其竞选团队在周二证实制作了该内容，并宣布计划投入400万美元进行重点推广。该广告直接聚焦艾米·阿克顿的家庭背景，由其疏远的母亲唐娜·亚瑟亲自出镜陈述。亚瑟在视频中公开声称阿克顿存在严重问题、习惯对个人过往说谎，并暗示自己的女儿患有精神疾病。

The attack video began circulating online on Monday before Vivek Ramaswamy's gubernatorial campaign confirmed on Tuesday that it had produced the spot and announced plans to spend $4 million promoting it across Ohio. The advertisement centers entirely on the personal history of his Democratic rival, featuring direct on-camera testimony from Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the recording, Arthur told viewers that her daughter has a serious problem, called her a liar regarding her past, and suggested that Acton is dealing with mental illness.

在广告的画面中，亚瑟不仅全盘否定阿克顿此前关于童年经历无家可归以及居住在帐篷中的叙述，坚称全家从未有过此类生活经历，还直接呼吁俄亥俄州选民不要投票支持她的女儿。尽管该片以直系亲属的指控为主要卖点，但整则广告完全省略了两人长达数十年的疏离背景，也没有提供阿克顿离开家庭的具体历史语境。

Throughout the broadcast, Arthur explicitly disputed Acton's public accounts of experiencing childhood homelessness and living in a tent, insisting to the audience that the family never resided in such conditions, while directly urging Ohioans to vote against her daughter. However, while relying on family accusations as its core message, the campaign advertisement completely omitted the decades-long separation between the two women and provided no context regarding the circumstances under which Acton originally left her mother's custody.

面对拉马斯瓦米团队的攻击，阿克顿竞选团队在周二迅速发表正式声明陈述其成长经历，并同步推出一则由其亲兄弟菲尔·斯特恩斯出镜反驳的反击广告。斯特恩斯在视频中公开证实了童年遭受严重虐待的经历，明确指出自己虽遭受大量虐待，但艾米始终承受着最严酷的伤害，并强调姐姐持续承受这些虐待完全是为了保护年幼的弟弟。

In response to the ad buy from Ramaswamy's campaign, Amy Acton's team released an official statement on Tuesday recounting her childhood and launched a counter-advertisement featuring her brother, Phil Stearns. Speaking directly on camera, Stearns confirmed the pervasive abuse within their household, explaining that while he endured widespread mistreatment, Acton consistently took the brunt of the suffering. He stressed that his sister repeatedly absorbed the worst of the abuse because she knew she had to protect him as a child.

当时的新闻报道以及法庭案卷记录显示，阿克顿早在1978年12岁时便被正式脱离母亲监护，缘由是其继父被指控对她实施强奸。尽管其继父提出无罪抗辩后未出庭且从未接受审判，而其母亲亚瑟则一直与其保持婚姻关系直至男方去世。独立事实核查机构FactCheck.org经核查还查出了将继父与阿克顿所述露营地联系起来的明确记录，直接证实了其家人曾居住在帐篷中的叙述，有力反驳了亚瑟坚称从未在此生活的主张。

Contemporaneous court files and news accounts document that Acton was removed from maternal custody in 1978 at age 12 after her stepfather was formally charged with raping her. Although the stepfather entered a not-guilty plea, he subsequently failed to appear in court and was never tried, while Acton's mother remained married to him until his death. Furthermore, investigative findings by FactCheck.org uncovered records tying the stepfather directly to the campground where Acton recalled living in a tent, corroborating key aspects of her early life and directly refuting Arthur's claim that the family never resided in such conditions.

在拉马斯瓦米拒绝撤下攻击广告后，共和党内部围绕该策略爆发了公开的分歧。前总统唐纳德·特朗普在周四明确为该广告辩护，称其非常有力，并公开证实自己已鼓励拉马斯瓦米继续播放该广告。副总统JD·万斯同样表达了坚定支持，他在公开讲话中直接要求党内同僚停止抱怨这一争议，敦促全党集中全部精力去赢得选举。

Following Vivek Ramaswamy's refusal to pull the attack video, senior figures within the Republican Party split sharply over the tactic. Donald Trump publicly defended the advertisement on Thursday, describing the spot as very powerful and confirming that he had directly encouraged Ramaswamy to keep running it. Vice President JD Vance similarly backed the aggressive approach, telling fellow Republicans to stop whining about the controversy and instead focus on winning the upcoming elections.

与党内高层的支持立场截然相反，多位俄亥俄州资深共和党人表达了强烈反感。虽然俄亥俄州现任州长迈克·德怀恩此前已经正式背书拉马斯瓦米，但他公开指责该广告极其令人不安，并多次敦促竞选团队立刻撤回该视频，同时表明自己仍维持背书决定。与此同时，俄亥俄州参议员乔恩·赫斯特德也明确选择与该则广告保持距离，拒绝为其攻击方式提供认可。

By contrast, key Ohio state Republican leaders expressed strong discomfort with the campaign message. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who had previously endorsed Ramaswamy in the gubernatorial contest, called the advertisement deeply, deeply troubling and urged the campaign to withdraw it, though he maintained his endorsement of the nominee. Concurrently, Ohio Senator Jon Husted also distanced himself from the advertisement, declining to align with the personal attack strategy against Acton.

拉马斯瓦米针对阿克顿家庭背景的攻击策略，引发了关于政治竞选人身攻击应否设立边界的讨论。辛辛那提大学政治学教授戴维·尼文在接受半岛电视台采访时表示，虽然以往竞选中不乏借助亲属批评候选人的先例，但通常仅限于政策分歧或不同政治观点的表达。尼文指出，像该片这样以极度私人的方式利用疏远直系亲属进行攻击，其展现出的人身毁灭程度具有前所未见的性质。

Ramaswamy's utilization of Acton's family background has fueled intense debates regarding acceptable boundaries in negative political campaigning. David Niven, a political science professor at Ohio's University of Cincinnati, observed that while campaigns have historically deployed family members to criticize opponents, such appearances typically involved political disagreements or differing outlooks on policy. In this instance, Niven emphasized that employing an estranged relative in such a deeply personal manner reached an unprecedented degree of targeted personal destruction.

除伦理层面的争论外，这场广告风波也成为观察共和党内部生态的重要切口。根据尼文的分析，围绕该广告去留所爆发的分歧，实际反映了传统共和党人与党内亲特朗普阵营之间的深层分化。尽管德怀恩等传统建制派政治人物对此类侵入式私人攻击表达抵触并呼吁撤除，但特朗普与万斯展现的强硬支持态度，体现出亲特朗普一翼愿意突破以往选战禁忌以谋求胜选的竞选风格。

Beyond the ethical questions surrounding campaign tactics, the controversy has illuminated underlying structural divisions within the Republican Party. According to Niven's assessment, the friction over whether to withdraw or maintain the video mirrors a broader divide separating traditional Republicans from the party's Trump-aligned faction. While traditional officials like Governor DeWine recoil from such severe personal attacks and urge restraint, the unyielding backing from Trump and Vance highlights an approach that embraces aggressive personal broadsides to secure electoral victory.