"Stop whining": What Vance's take on Ohio ad controversy means for 2028

Vice President Vance 's call for fellow Republicans to "stop whining" about Vivek Ramaswamy's controversial attack ad in Ohio's race for governor showed a key part of his political mindset ahead of his expected run for president in 2028: Never back down. Why it matters: Channeling President Trump, Vance has shown contempt for what he sees as the old-guard GOP's reflex to cave under pressure from Democrats and the media. He thinks too many Republicans sacrifice allies to make controversies go away, and that giving critics a political scalp only encourages them to demand another, according to people familiar with his thinking. It's an approach with some risk — namely whether Vance, entering a critical period in his political career, has the political muscle to get away with Trump's no-apologies approach. Driving the news: Vance on Wednesday defended Ramaswamy amid bipartisan outrage over an ad featuring the estranged mother of Ramaswamy's Democratic opponent, Amy Acton . In the deeply personal ad, Acton's mother calls her daughter a liar, and says Ohioans shouldn't vote for her for governor. Not mentioned in the ad: Acton and her brother were removed from the mother's care as children after Acton accused her stepfather of sexual abuse. Her mother sided with the stepfather, leading to an estrangement that has lasted nearly 50 years. Appearing at a campaign stop for Ramaswamy in Ohio, Vance showed little concern about the criticism over the ad. Vance said he was "disgusted" by fellow Republicans criticizing it, telling them to "stop whining." Asked whether the ad was appropriate, Vance said it was "not really my concern," and that politics is tough. The other side: The backlash has included Republicans and Democrats who believe the ad crossed a moral line by exploiting Acton's traumatic childhood. "I would not have run that ad," Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, who appeared alongside Vance and Ramaswamy at a campaign rally Wednesday, told the AP . Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley