Republican attacks on the candidate for governor are contradictory and hinge on a warped understanding of sexual abuse

I’ve heard people say that the Ramaswamy team must have been scared.

Last week, the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech billionaire and onetime Republican presidential candidate who is currently the Republican nominee to be the governor of Ohio, ran an ad featuring the long-estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, the physician and former public health official Amy Acton.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

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© Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

© Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

© Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

In a reliably red state, candidates say dissatisfied voters tell them they’re planning to vote Democrat for the first time

Democrat Kim McCarthy is canvassing in a middle-class Ohio neighborhood of four-bedroom, three-bathroom homes. There are $70,000 trucks in the driveways and robot lawnmowers at work.

“This is a neighborhood of two incomes and young families; people working hard,” says McCarthy, who is running against a three-time Republican incumbent for a seat in Ohio’s house of representatives.

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© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

The fallout from Vivek Ramaswamy’s brutal spot targeting his Democratic rival in the Ohio governor’s race showed that even in the Trump era, a political attack can be seen as going too far.

© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Blake Miley yelled “fascist” as President Trump spoke at a midterm campaign rally. The violence that followed “was not right,” she said.

© Nick Fancher for The New York Times

Rodney Hinton ran over Larry Henderson after he viewed body-cam footage of police shooting dead his son Ryan

An Ohio man who killed a deputy with his car just hours after seeing video of his son killed by Cincinnati police was found guilty of murder and other charges on Friday, according to authorities.

Rodney L Hinton, 40, faces between 15 years and life in prison after his convictions in the death of Hamilton county special deputy Larry Henderson. His sentencing is tentatively scheduled for 16 November.

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© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Trump got behind a much-criticized spot in the Ohio governor’s race.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Republican Mike DeWine said ad featuring estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton was ‘wrong’

Donald Trump issued a swift rebuke against Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican governor, who on Thursday said gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was “wrong” to release an ad critical of his Democratic rival Amy Acton that featured her estranged mother.

DeWine had implored Ramaswamy to take the ad down, but hours later, Trump urged Ramaswamy to keep airing it and accused the Republican governor of disloyalty.

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© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

The ad featuring the estranged mother of Vivek Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, has been widely criticized, though President Trump strongly defended it.

© Allison Robbert/Associated Press

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• Trump attacks Ohio governor over call for Ramaswamy to drop ‘deeply troubling’ ad

Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska

Mary Peltola’s campaign to represent Alaska in the US Senate has taken her to parts of the massive state’s interior that are inaccessible by road and on the frontlines of the cost-of-living crisis she hopes will make her the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.

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© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

Polls show US voters are deeply upset by high gas prices and are likely to punish Republicans in the midterms as a result

• How will Trump’s mass deportation agenda shape the US midterm elections? Our reporters answer your questions

With fewer than two weeks until the midterms, US voters are unlikely to see relief on one of this election cycle’s main issues: gas prices.

Airing up her car’s tires at a Speedway in Perrysburg, Ohio, Toledo resident Sharie Smith, 41, says soaring costs are having a direct impact on her life.

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© Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

A coaster dares riders to be daring, with steep drops, high speeds and improbably tight curves. But safety has become a concern again after a man was thrown from his seat and died in Georgia.

© Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

JD Vance, the vice-president, criticized Republicans who have spoken out against a controversial campaign ad from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar. In a Tuesday statement, Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, said his sister was estranged from her mother, who had married a man that sexually abused Acton when she was 12. He said his mother, Donna Arthur, remained in the marriage after her husband was arrested and her children were taken away from her

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

The vice president backed an advertisement featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s mother, who has been estranged from Dr. Acton since her stepfather was charged with child rape.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Officials say the explosion released an airborne irritant that can cause burning of the eyes, nose, mouth and skin

Officials are investigating a tank explosion in Toledo, Ohio, that released a chemical into the air, causing a mass evacuation in the area.

One person, a first responder, was injured and taken to the hospital, but officials believe the injuries are non-life-threatening. They are also unsure about the cause of the explosion.

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© Photograph: Jeremy Wadsworth/The Blade/AP

© Photograph: Jeremy Wadsworth/The Blade/AP

© Photograph: Jeremy Wadsworth/The Blade/AP

Nearly 1,000 people in the Ohio city were told to leave the area and thousands more were urged to stay inside. The mayor said the spill did not present a long-term threat.

© Jeremy Wadsworth/The Blade, via Associated Press

Amy Acton’s brother calls campaigning on his sister’s sexual abuse from their mother’s husband ‘a despicable low’

The family of Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, is criticizing her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy for using Acton’s estranged mother in a recently released campaign ad.

In the ad, which has circulated among conservatives on social media, her mother, Donna Arthur, said: “She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.”

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© Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

© Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

© Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

A Republican ad features Amy Acton’s estranged mother calling her daughter a liar. The two have not spoken since Dr. Acton’s mother backed her husband after his arrest on rape charges.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

To boost Senator Jon Husted, who is in a tight race to keep his seat, some Republicans who were making a jobs pitch have pivoted to focus on socialism.

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Election officers in Louisiana and Oklahoma receive a powdery substance, prompting evacuations

The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating letters sent to state officials and election offices across the country containing an “unknown substance”.

Just weeks before November’s US midterm elections, election officers in Louisiana and Oklahoma received envelopes containing a powdery substance, leading to evacuations. A similar package containing white powder was also sent to the Ohio secretary of state, but the US Postal Service intercepted the package.

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© Photograph: Jenny Kane/AP

© Photograph: Jenny Kane/AP

© Photograph: Jenny Kane/AP

Statehouses make health-care policy, guide education, and may redraw congressional districts ahead of 2028. With the stakes high, more than 6,100 legislators will be elected Nov. 3.

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With the midterms nearing, some are venting frustration with the president while others are standing by him.

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Two major Republican super PACs are said to be withdrawing cash from the races of the incumbent Representatives Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in an effort to triage the midterm map.

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The president rallied in Youngstown for Senator Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are in competitive contests against Democratic opponents.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

An Ohio municipal court heard a misdemeanor case that considered the limits of political discourse in the age of the internet.

© Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times