Ohio restaurant left reeling after hosting Vivek Ramaswamy for midterms campaign stop - The Independent

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An Ohio restaurant is picking up the pieces after hosting Republican Vivek Ramaswamy on the midterms campaign trail — a move that alienated some longtime customers.

Ramaswamy was defeated in Ohio’s gubernatorial race by Democrat Amy Acton, in part, thanks to an attack ad his campaign ran featuring his opponent’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. Acton was sexually abused as a child by Arthur’s late husband, and the mom sided with him over her own daughter, smearing her as a “liar” in the ad.

The ad received bipartisan backlash as Republicans warned it would come back to bite Ramaswamy come Election Day.

His campaign announced a stop at P.J. Marley’s in the city of Medina on October 31, which the owners, Patty and Jon Stahl - described as small-business Republicans - claimed was arranged before the controversial ad was released, according to The New York Times.

They reportedly believed the attack ad was in bad taste, but hoped Ramaswamy would fulfill his campaign pledge to lower property taxes and tackle rising electric costs.

The couple added that they would have hosted a Democrat in their restaurant too, and the opportunity was not about taking sides.

But since announcing the visit, their staff has been subjected to aggressive phone calls calling them “pedophile supporters” and dozens of negative reviews on social media.

“Makes me sad that they are complicit of MAGA behavior,” one person wrote in a Facebook review.

“They love supporting candidates who use child s*xual abuse against the victim,” another posted.

“Never dining there, vile pedophile supporters,” a Facebook user wrote.

“PJ Marley's has great food, which makes this all the more disappointing,” someone else wrote.

The Independent has contacted the restaurant for comment.

The Stahls began deleting negative comments on their Facebook page at the height of the onslaught, they told the Times. But the couple said they don’t regret the decision to host Ramaswamy.

“People were saying, ‘Oh, you’re giving Vivek a platform,’” Jon Stahl told the newspaper. “I looked at it as he was giving us a platform.”

County Democrats announced they were holding a protest outside the restaurant on the day of Ramaswamy’s visit. A neighbor of the Stalhs, Kellie Biegel, attended the protest and reportedly yelled at people going inside, “There they are, pedophile supporters!”

One of the restaurant’s bartenders, Anthony Buchanan, told the Times that one protester kept shouting at him, “How can you work for them?”

He didn’t respond, but told the newspaper that he could have told the protester that he was a third-grade teacher working two jobs. “I’m just trying to get my money,” he said.

Acton comfortably beat Ramaswamy in the race for governor with 52.3 percent of the vote. He received 44.4 percent of the vote. The Democrat, who became the first woman elected governor in the state, reportedly let Ramaswamy’s concession call go to voicemail on Election Night.

“We left her a message,” Ramaswamy said. “It’s a tough night for us here in Ohio.”

The victory ends 16 years of Republican leadership in the state.