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Indian-American techpreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday (February 24) announced his bid for governor of Ohio. This comes weeks after his exit from the Department of Government Efficiency, which he was slated to lead with Elon Musk.
He kicked off his campaign in Cincinnati, promising to eliminate income and property taxes. He has also promised to institute merit-based pay for every teacher, principal, superintendent and administrator.
“I believe deep in my bones that Ohio can lead the way again,” Ramaswamy said. “If Silicon Valley was at the leading edge of the American economy for the last 10 years, it will be the Ohio River Valley for the next 10 years.”
US President Donald Trump gave his “complete and total endorsement” for Ramaswamy’s bid in a TruthSocial post on Tuesday.
In the past, Ramaswamy has contested the Republican nomination for president in 2024 before dropping out to endorse Trump.
Ivy League educated
Ramaswamy was born in August 1985 in Cincinnati to Indian immigrants who moved to the US from Kerala. His father worked at the General Electric Plant in Evendale, Ohio, while his mother worked as a geriatric psychiatrist. According to a New Yorker profile from December 2022, Ramaswamy went to Kerala frequently while growing up to spend summers with his family.
Ramaswamy graduated with a BA in Biology from Harvard University in 2007 summa cum laude (with top honours). The profile described him as the president of the Harvard Political Union and used to perform “Eminem covers and original free-market-themed rap songs as a kind of alter ego called Da Vek.”
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He later pursued a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree at Yale Law, where he would meet and befriend JD Vance.
Dizzying ascent
Ramaswamy had started and sold his technology company in his early 20s and joined a hedge fund based in New York, before establishing Roivant, a pharmaceutical venture focused on applying technology to drug development in 2014. Within a year, he was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine, which dubbed him “The 30-Year-Old CEO Conjuring Drug Companies from Thin Air.”
After stepping down as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Roivant Sciences in 2021, Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management, an Ohio-based asset management firm backed financially by Vance and billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel. According to the New Yorker, Ramaswamy considers Strive an “anti-woke” asset-management firm, which doesn’t ask the companies it invested in to “push political agendas.”
Conservative political views
In recent years, Ramaswamy has endeared himself to Trump, decrying what he has described as corporate America’s “wokeism” on racism and climate. He has renounced affirmative action in higher education and opposes ESG (environment, social and corporate) initiatives to measure a company’s social and environmental impact, according to a BBC profile of him.
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In the past, he has criticised the Black Lives Matter movement, “cultural totalitarianism” enforced by “liberal elites”, mask mandates and US border protection.
Ramaswamy has long advocated for a ban on “addictive social media” for children, which he echoed in his campaign address on Monday. In the past, he has likened TikTok to “digital fentanyl”.
Pushing for tougher restrictions on immigration, Ramaswamy has advocated for an end to the H-1B visa system, used by employers to hire skilled foreign workers in the US. He has also called for “ending birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants in this country”.
This explainer incorporates part of an explainer published in 2023.
