Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate who briefly aided President Trump’s government-restructuring efforts, introduced his candidacy for governor of Ohio on Monday, vowing to put the state on the forefront of a “second industrial revolution” in america.
A number of hours after his announcement, Mr. Trump supplied his endorsement in a Fact Social publish, a nod that cements Mr. Ramaswamy’s standing as the favourite within the Republican main, which can be held subsequent 12 months.
Addressing a crowd of a whole lot of supporters at an aerospace firm’s industrial facility in West Chester Township, a suburb of his hometown, Cincinnati, Mr. Ramaswamy framed his candidacy as an extension of Mr. Trump’s efforts in Washington.
“This isn’t a one-man job,” he stated, referring to Mr. Trump’s election. “If we’re all going to be saved as a individuals, it’s going to be as a result of all of us right here step up and save ourselves, and that begins with the states.”
Mr. Ramaswamy, 39, who rose to prominence as a conservative critic of liberal company governance, was a long-shot however high-profile candidate within the 2024 Republican presidential main. He dropped out of the race after a distant fourth-place end within the Iowa caucuses and rapidly rebranded himself as a tireless booster of Mr. Trump and his agenda.
That fueled hypothesis that he can be thought-about for a publish in Mr. Trump’s cupboard. As an alternative, he was named to guide the president’s Division of Authorities Effectivity job drive alongside Elon Musk.
However earlier than Mr. Trump took workplace, Mr. Ramaswamy discovered himself caught up within the political divisions and private rivalries of the president’s circle. In December, he infuriated immigration hard-liners in Mr. Trump’s coalition by defending the H-1B visa program to confess expert immigrants and by arguing on X that “American tradition has honored mediocrity over excellence for approach too lengthy.”
Tensions additionally quickly mounted between Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Musk, who took an identical place within the visa argument however didn’t see eye to eye with Mr. Ramaswamy on the duty drive. The White Home introduced Mr. Ramaswamy’s exit the day Mr. Trump took workplace.
Angela Settell, an area Republican activist who attended the rally, stated she was not involved concerning the temporary and rocky nature of Mr. Ramaswamy’s tenure in Mr. Trump’s orbit.
“He was a sensible choice for DOGE, however there by no means ought to have been two individuals working it. There ought to simply be one particular person,” Ms. Settell, of close by Loveland, stated. As for the combat over visas, “most individuals don’t even know what it’s,” she stated.
Mr. Ramaswamy has solid his ambitions for Ohio as complementary to Mr. Trump’s challenge of overhauling Washington and as a continuation of his work with Mr. Musk’s job drive, which is aiming to disassemble a wide selection of federal authorities packages.
“President Trump is reviving our conviction in America,” he stated. “We require a pacesetter right here at house who will revive our conviction in Ohio.”
In West Chester, Mr. Ramaswamy made no reference to his work with Mr. Musk. In his speech, he centered closely on conventional Republican priorities like reducing taxes and regulation in Ohio, and he described instructional achievement as “the single-most essential disaster that frankly neither main political occasion is speaking or doing sufficient about.” Amongst different issues, he promised to ban cellphones in colleges.
Mr. Ramaswamy signaled his intentions to run for governor of Ohio final month, and he has employed a variety of operatives near Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance to work on his marketing campaign.
Earlier than Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy’s candidacy, he had urged Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican governor, to nominate Mr. Ramaswamy to complete Mr. Vance’s Senate time period.
Mr. DeWine selected Jon Husted, his lieutenant governor, to fill the seat as a substitute — a call that set off a sport of musical chairs within the governor’s race, the place Mr. Husted was anticipated to be a favourite for the Republican nomination. Dave Yost, Ohio’s lawyer common, and Robert Sprague, the state treasurer, each declared candidacies.
Their ambitions have been quickly sophisticated by Mr. Ramaswamy, whose presidential candidacy and ubiquity in Republican politics and conservative media since then have made him one of many G.O.P.’s most seen figures regardless of a really brief résumé in Republican politics. He has by no means run for workplace in Ohio earlier than, and he was registered to vote as an unbiased as lately as 2021.
Mr. Sprague dropped his bid and endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy this month. Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, has additionally backed Mr. Ramaswamy.
Mr. Trump’s endorsement has been a crucial consider current statewide races in Ohio as in different states. Within the state’s 2022 and 2024 Senate races, his backing elevated Mr. Vance and Bernie Moreno, each political newcomers, to victories in aggressive primaries.
In his speech, Mr. Ramaswamy promised to be “conservative with out being combative” in his main contest with Mr. Yost. He criticized the “Anthony Fauci knockoff who allowed our public colleges to be closed” through the Covid-19 pandemic — an obvious reference to Amy Acton, the previous director of the State Division of Well being, the one declared Democratic candidate within the governor’s race up to now.
Kevin Williams contributed reporting from West Chester Township, Ohio.
