Republican former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is now a candidate for governor in his home state of Ohio. He officially kicked off his campaign a little over a month after separating from the Department of Government Efficiency he had been appointed to lead with Elon Musk by President Trump – who also had something to say.
Ramaswamy, a tech billionaire, kicked off his campaign at an aerospace manufacturer in West Chester north of Cincinnati - what he termed on X as "the heart of America - Butler County."
A crowd of a few hundred cheered as he talked about zeroing out the state income tax and property taxes, and about cutting regulations on business. He also spoke about educational priorities such as American history studies, classroom cell phone bans and physical education.
"The movement starts today of Ohioans: black or white, man or woman, urban or rural, even Democrat or Republican. If you care about economic excellence and educational excellence, then join us because we're going to be working together to take our state to new heights," Ramaswamy said. "We don't have to be a state in decline. We don't have to be a nation in decline."
Just hours after that event, and not long after the end of Ramaswamy's second event of the day in at a packing manufacturer in New Albany outside Columbus, Trump endorsed Ramaswamy. That's bad news for Ramaswamy's primary opponent Dave Yost, Ohio's attorney general. The Yost campaign had said in a memo about a new poll that "whichever candidate does receive the support of President Trump will enjoy instant frontrunner status to become the next Governor of Ohio."
Ramaswamy is from Cincinnati and lives in Columbus, and has never sought statewide elected office before. He briefly ran for president in 2024, ending his campaign after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses last year. After Trump was elected, he appointed Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE with fellow billionaire Musk. Ramaswamy left the DOGE effort the day Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, saying he'd have "more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio."
Ramaswamy is a graduate of Harvard and of Yale Law School, where he met now-Vice President JD Vance.
With strong venture capital support he founded a pharmaceutical company which wasn't profitable under his leadership. He wrote the bestselling book "Woke, Inc.; Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam." Its publisher said the book "makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of American capitalism."
Ramaswamy also founded Strive Asset Management, which opposes what its website calls "value-destructive agendas" such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies. In November, Ramaswamy announced he was moving the firm from Columbus to Dallas, Texas.
Ramaswamy is set to face Yost and former Morgan County Board of Education president Heather Hill in the May 2026 primary. Though Yost was elected to two full terms in two statewide executive offices - attorney general and auditor - Ramaswamy came to the race with more endorsements from Ohio Republicans. Treasurer Robert Sprague, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and candidate for treasurer Sen. Kristina Roegner have endorsed Ramaswamy, along with national conservatives such as U.S. Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
"I welcome Mr. Ramaswamy to the race for however long he sticks around," Yost said in a statement issued during the West Chester event. "We'll see if he actually stays in — Mr. Ramaswamy quit on President Trump and DOGE on day one, he quit on Ohio and moved his company to Texas, and he quit his presidential campaign after a devastating fourth-place finish in Iowa."
READ AND WATCH MORE:
- Columbus on the Record: Vivek Ramaswamy Enters Ohio Governor Race
- Vivek Ramaswamy leaves DOGE role, mulls run for Ohio governor
