Did Amy Acton Live in a Tent? Her Estranged Mother Disputes Her Childhood Homelessness Claim in Ad

Amy Acton's estranged mother has appeared in an unauthorised political advert to dispute the Ohio gubernatorial candidate's claim that she once lived in a tent as a child, directly accusing her daughter of lying about her past just two weeks before the state's midterm election.

Donna Arthur, who introduced herself in the video as someone who had worked with the Children and Family Service Association, said her daughter had a 'serious problem' with dishonesty.

'I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, and it's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar,' Arthur said in the clip, posted by the X account @wcdispatch.

'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 added.

The advert landed two weeks before Ohio's midterms, with Acton, a Democrat, competing against Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for the governorship. Arthur ended with a direct appeal to voters. 'Don't vote for people who lie, don't let her become your governor,' she said.

Amy Acton's Tent Claim Under Fire

Acton had spoken about her upbringing in an interview with Cleveland 19 News published on Monday. She described a difficult childhood in Youngstown and said those experiences helped push her towards medicine.

'I am from Youngstown. I had a pretty rough childhood, and experienced what it was like to live in a tent, to experience abuse and neglect, to not have the heat on, not have a home,' Acton said. 'So, that all motivated me to become a doctor.'

Her mother's intervention directly challenges that account. Yet the provenance of the advert remains unclear. IBTimes UK cannot independently verify who commissioned, funded or distributed the video, and Acton's campaign had not addressed it at the time of writing.

Arthur also suggested her daughter was unfit for office because of the alleged dishonesty. 'My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself,' she said. 'People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn't doing that.'

She continued: 'If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself. It will only get worse.'

What Amy Acton Has Said About Her Childhood

Acton has not publicly responded to her mother's claims in the advert, according to the information available. Her own account, however, has been consistent in the interview: hardship, instability and abuse shaped her decision to enter medicine.

She said she began her career in paediatrics, where she felt she was often seeing problems 'much too late'. That experience, she said, led her towards preventive medicine.

'It drove me into this specialty called preventative medicine, which means treating a whole community, a whole state, the whole country as your patient,' Acton said.

She also sought to present herself as an experienced public servant rather than a purely political figure. Acton said she trained in preventive medicine while Bob Taft was Ohio's governor and later worked with 'five different governors from both sides'.

Before entering the 2026 race, Acton served as director of the Ohio Department of Health from 2019 to 2020. That period made her a familiar public face in Ohio politics, particularly during the early response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

How the Dispute Could Shape the Governor's Race

Ramaswamy, her Republican rival, is running in a contest where personal biography has become a point of contention. Arthur's claims introduce a challenge to Acton's account of her upbringing, although the advert's funding and commissioning have not been established.

Acton has said she lived in a tent as a child and experienced abuse and neglect. Her mother disputes that account and says it is untrue. Available reporting and the advert itself do not establish which version is accurate.

Acton's campaign has not responded to the advert, and the source of the video has not been identified. Ohio voters currently have only the conflicting public statements from Acton and her mother on this specific claim.