Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen digs into the fallout from a controversial ad that has roiled Ohio politics. Plus, we explore two Senate races where Black voters are playing a critical role.

— Adam Wollner

Ramaswamy’s ad splits the GOP in Ohio’s closing stretch

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

If there’s one notion that Republican Vivek Ramaswamy reinforced with an ad featuring his opponent’s estranged mother this week, it’s that he is trailing in his bid to become Ohio’s governor.

In the ad, Donna Arthur calls her daughter, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, a “liar.” Acton has previously talked about how, as a child, she was sexually abused by her mother’s husband. Her brother said in a video released by Acton’s campaign this week that their “birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.” Acton has also said that she has not seen or spoken to her mother in nearly 50 years.

Democrats roundly condemned Ramaswamy for turning this chapter of Acton’s life into a political attack. Many Republicans also distanced themselves from the ad, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, whom Ramaswamy is vying to succeed, and Sen. John Husted, R-Ohio, who is also on the ballot next month.

“The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine said today, calling on Ramaswamy to take it down.

But Ramaswamy had some defenders in the GOP. Vice President JD Vance, a former Ohio senator, admonished fellow Republicans to quit “whining” about the ad and focus on winning the election. And in a Truth Social post today, President Donald Trump criticized DeWine while praising Ramaswamy’s “very powerful” ad.

Most candidates try to unify their own party and divide the other party, especially in the final stretch of a campaign. Ramaswamy has managed to do the opposite.

As the fallout continues to scatter across the Buckeye State, there are a couple of conclusions to draw from Ramaswamy’s controversial move and the state of the race.

First, it appears he thinks he’s running behind Acton, but not by a wide margin. No one with a lead would take such a big risk, in the same way no one who was trailing by a lot would in the hopes of losing by a little less.

Second, his team seems to have concluded the ad was the best way to help him close the gap. That would be counterintuitive, but it could be that they see more value in the fight surrounding the ad than in its content. Sometimes, when a campaign looks like it is playing checkers, it is really playing chess. And sometimes, it’s just playing checkers and losing.

Most strategists think the Ramaswamy ad fits in the latter category. And some believe that Husted and other Republicans could suffer collateral damage because they share the ticket with Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy couldn’t afford to do nothing if he felt he was headed toward defeat. Whether he made the right move remains to be seen. That’s up to Ohio voters.

Black voters play a crucial role in the battle for the Senate

In the final days before the election, Senate candidates from both parties are aggressively vying for the support of Black voters, a key bloc that could determine who controls the chamber. Michigan: Former Rep. Mike Rogers opened an office for his Senate campaign last weekend in Detroit, a city where 75% of the population is Black and is known for helping Democrats secure and pad their victories. It’s also an area where Rogers’ general election opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, underperformed and lost in the Democratic primary.

In a race that could be decided by a slim margin, Rogers is making a late run for Black voters who ordinarily wouldn’t consider him, but who also have doubts about casting their ballot for El-Sayed, Henry J. Gomez and Allan Smith write. Rogers recently turned up at a Detroit bar, where he served drinks and snapped photos with several Black patrons. His wife, Kristi Rogers, posted up in the parking lot of a Detroit gas station last week to hand out $10 gift cards.

Underscoring the stakes, former President Barack Obama will headline a Saturday rally in Detroit for El-Sayed and other Democrats. Even that potentially helpful development could not spare El-Sayed scrutiny over his past criticism of the nation’s first Black president, who in his opinion fell short of delivering change.

Rogers has impressed some Democrats with his efforts, including Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in a bitterly fought primary, while others have accused Rogers of pandering.

Texas: Meanwhile, state Rep. James Talarico is leaning on Black voters to help him pull off an elusive Democratic Senate, Natasha Korecki reports from Arlington.

A recent gathering of mostly Black activists and community members featured Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost to Talarico in the Democratic primary. While sitting for a panel-style conversation, Crockett sang Talarico’s praises, calling him “our amazing Senate nominee” and urging the room to back him and others on the ballot.

But in an interview with NBC News afterward, Crockett revealed some tensions still existed in the wake of that hard-fought primary. She would not explicitly say whether she believed Talarico was doing enough to mobilize Black voters, answering, “It is my hope.” She noted candidates in other states had invited her to campaign with them, but Talarico has not.

Crockett pointed to her ability to dominate the Black vote in the primary and revealed the Talarico team had not taken up an offer by one of her top campaign lieutenants to assist on the campaign “specifically by having the person that led us to really a historic African American turnout.”

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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