It’s been a particularly brutal cycle for attack ads, but voters are responding with humanity. Plus: on the campaign trail with a Democrat in Kansas

• This was originally published in the Stakes 2026, a newsletter about the midterm elections. Sign up to get it in your inbox

There’s a campaign moment I can’t stop thinking about. It happened shortly after the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, released a shocking attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.

In the ad, as many readers will know by now, Acton’s mother accuses her daughter of lying and tells Ohioans not to vote for her. Acton, 60, says she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12, when she and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody after their stepfather was arrested and charged with raping her. Acton says she last saw her mother at the courthouse, where her mother came to support her husband as her daughter testified against him.

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© Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s (R) campaign is no longer airing a controversial ad featuring his opponent’s mother after it ran its course on the air. The campaign previously put millions behind the ad, even after backlash from members of both parties. The ad features Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent Amy Acton’s mother, who calls her daughter…

Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s (R) campaign is no longer airing a controversial ad featuring his opponent’s mother after it ran its course on the air. The campaign previously put millions behind the ad, even after backlash from members of both parties. The ad features Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent Amy Acton’s mother, who calls her daughter…