ഒഹായോ തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ്: വിവേക് രാമസ്വാമിയുടെ വിവാദ പരസ്യം റിപ്പബ്ലിക്കൻ പാർട്ടിയിൽ വലിയ ഭിന്നതയുണ്ടാക്കുന്നു

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.

The most explosive advertisement of the midterm elections has split Republicans and again posed the question of what is fair game for campaign attacks in American politics.

In the days since the leak of the ad from Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, many fellow G.O.P. politicians have denounced, disavowed or distanced themselves from the spot. Yet President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have defended the ad, a remarkably ruthless one even by the standards of modern political campaigns.

The ad features the estranged mother of Mr. Ramaswamy's Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar and urging Ohioans not to vote for her. Ms. Acton has said that she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old, when she was removed from her mother's custody after her stepfather was arrested and charged with raping her.

The outrage over the ad's dark backstory has left Mr. Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur who exemplifies the anything-goes, attack-at-all-costs ethos of Trump-era politics, at the center of a self-created political firestorm.

The Republican disagreements over the ad show that major figures in the party can still become divided over the rules and red lines of political warfare in the Trump era. And they set the stage for high drama on Election Day in Ohio, a state that has trended solidly Republican in recent years but now has outsize importance in the midterms. The overarching political question is: Will a potential backlash to Mr. Ramaswamy hurt other Ohio Republicans in competitive races, especially Senator Jon Husted, who is trying to fend off a well-known Democratic rival in a vital race for Senate control?

There is now a degree of unpredictability in the state. Campaigns in both parties do not know how voters will react.

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