Vivek Ramaswamy gets a political education in a grueling Ohio governor’s race

Holding a town hall Saturday in the second least populous county in Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy seemed further than ever from the presidential campaign trail where he made his political debut three years ago.

President Donald Trump barely came up. The war in Iran wasn’t mentioned.

Instead, Ramaswamy fielded multiple questions in Monroe County, along the Ohio-West Virginia border, about how he would pay for the property tax cuts he’s promising if he’s elected, which he touts as the largest such rollback in state history.

“There are some things that are out of control of a governor, and I’m not going to give you just some fake promise,” Ramaswamy said at one point.

The biotech entrepreneur is attempting a rare route in politics, going from national notoriety as a presidential candidate to running for state office, toning down the hard-charging and provocative style of his presidential campaign. He’s making his pivot during an election cycle where headwinds are blowing against all kinds of Republicans.

And on top of it all, he’s trying to convince an overwhelmingly White, Christian and middle-class state to make him its first Indian American governor, first Hindu governor and first billionaire governor.

It has not been easy. Even though Trump endorsed him early on, Ramaswamy has had to weather Republican second-guessing. He’s drawn a Democratic opponent in Amy Acton, Ohio’s former public health director, who refuses to debate him, saying she will not platform a “serial liar.” Polls show the contest remains close even though his campaign and allied groups have poured over $120 million into advertising in the state, more than triple the spending on Acton’s side.

It amounts to a herculean effort to muscle Ramaswamy through in a state that Trump won by 11 percentage points in 2024 — and it has come with a political education for the Cincinnati native.

“I think he’s learned some things as you travel around the state, particularly a state like Ohio that’s so big and diverse,” said Terry Casey, a Republican strategist in Ohio. “Learning all those nuances, talking with elected officials at the local level, you see and hear things and realize some of the realities.”

Ramaswamy acknowledges he does not fit the profile of a typical Ohio statewide candidate. His contest is in direct contrast with the Senate race, where two candidates with decades of experience in Ohio politics, GOP Sen. Jon Husted and former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, are duking it out in another tight campaign.

“I’m a businessman,” the 41-year-old Ramaswamy said Sunday at the Darke County GOP Hog Roast, speaking amid a parade of mostly older, White candidates already working in Columbus. “I’m not somebody who has grown up in Ohio politics. I’ll be the first person to admit that. I don’t have experience in Ohio government. A lot of the men and women you’re hearing from today do, and we’re going to rely on them. … But for my part, I’m an outsider.”

Speaking with CNN afterward, Ramaswamy said he has come to appreciate how impactful a governor can be, even if it is “not in ways that are part of the national cultural zeitgeist.” He pointed to property taxes, saying they have moved from a “top-five issue” for him to a “top-one issue.”

Democrats say Ramaswamy has come off as elitist and out of touch, pointing to his private jet travel between campaign events. One of Acton’s latest ads shows Ramaswamy joking about being “dirty rich” in an old TV interview.

Yet Ramaswamy’s allies say he’s running an energetic campaign against the odds.

“It’s a tough environment,” Sen. Bernie Moreno told CNN after Ramaswamy spoke Sunday at the Miami County GOP Picnic. “I think if we had $2-a-gallon gas … he’d win by 20 points. So you can’t separate what’s happening at the national level from just what’s happening, what’s going to happen on the ballot. But ultimately Vivek, I think, will win.”

On the day of Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, Ramaswamy announced he would not join Elon Musk at the newly created Department of Government Efficiency as initially expected. A month later, Trump endorsed Ramaswamy on the day he announced his campaign.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Top Ohio Republicans were slow to consolidate behind him. Then-Attorney General Dave Yost kept his own gubernatorial campaign going for about another three months, dropping out after the state GOP endorsed Ramaswamy. Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, the championship-winning former Ohio State football coach, kept open the possibility that he could run until that September.

Outgoing GOP Gov. Mike DeWine withheld his endorsement until this January, bestowing it after Ramaswamy named state Senate President Rob McColley as his running mate.

Ramaswamy ended up drawing a May primary challenge from a little-known automotive engineer, Casey Putsch, who pitched himself as more of an everyman and leaned into ethnic grievances, suggesting Ramaswamy had contempt for “American cultural values.” Putsch received 18% of the vote and has refused to back Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy stands out as a practicing Hindu in a state where 64% of adults identify as Christian, according to a Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study. Ramaswamy listened along Sunday in Darke County as a pastor led a prayer for Republican candidates to “submit” themselves to God.

Aaron Baer, the president of the Center for Christian Virtue in Columbus, said he backed Ramaswamy early partly to show the nominee was an ally of Christians. Baer said there were “a lot of us who were concerned” in those early days, but it no longer feels like a source of tension.

“There’s always the online trolls and there’s that kind of stuff, but actually on the ground, it’s gone so well,” Baer said.

Former state Rep. Jena Powell, who previously represented a solidly red district in rural western Ohio, said she has been “all in” on Ramaswamy and urged fellow Republicans to unify.

“People have, you know, different ideas of who they may have wanted as governor,” Powell said, “but as I tell every Republican, the primary is over, we have Vivek and we want to have him as our Republican governor.”

Ramaswamy’s blue-collar appeal was under the spotlight Saturday in Monroe County, a working-class GOP stronghold in the heart of Appalachia. He was introduced by a fellow statewide candidate from the region, Jay Edwards, who acknowledged they “come from two different worlds” and “wealth classes.”

“I’m going to hold his feet to the fire,” Edwards said, “but I don’t think he’s going to need it.”

Ramaswamy’s message there resonated with one attendee, Chris Wilson, who said he was a coal miner for over a decade and now works in an industry that is being hurt by Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Ramaswamy seems to be for “blue-collar America,” Wilson said.

“If that’s who he’s willing to help, then I don’t care what walk of life he comes from,” Wilson said. “I’m interested in what his policies are and what that’s going to do for us.”

Ramaswamy is not running to the center. He’s promising to be the “most conservative” Ohio governor ever. And Ramaswamy, whose 2021 book “Woke Inc.” birthed his political rise, still rails against “transgenderism” and “climate-ism.”

But even then, he’s run into the realities of governing versus campaigning. He’s faced questions about how he plans to fund public education and other state services under his plans to bring down property taxes and phase out the state income tax.

Ramaswamy also caused a stir earlier this year when he suggested shutting down some public colleges in Ohio to help fund a reduction in the income tax. He avoided repeating that when asked about it Saturday, but generally promised to make tough decisions to address declining enrollment.

“If there’s one person who will save our higher education system in Ohio, it’s me,” he said.

Casey, the strategist, said the episode was an example of how Ramaswamy has started with a “broad brush” in some policy areas and refined them as he has grown as a candidate.

Ramaswamy has also had to respond to growing voter concerns about data centers, issuing a proposal in August to block any new projects unless they meet three conditions, including that they provide free electricity to nearby residents. Acton has proposed her own “conditional” data center moratorium and highlighted past comments by Ramaswamy where he called the proliferation of data centers in Ohio “a good thing.”

Nick Owens, a self-described lifelong Republican who runs the anti-data center group Conserve Ohio, said he has seen Ramaswamy evolve on the issue.

“There’s definitely a greater awareness to how hyperscale data center developments are affecting rural Ohioans to Vivek,” Owens said. “I think he was looking at it as a pure economic development lens and didn’t really quite grasp the impact on everyday Ohioans and many Ohioans which make up the MAGA base.”

Ramaswamy seldom went out of his way to tie himself to Trump while stumping over the weekend, another contrast with his presidential bid, where he lavished praise on Trump even while running against him.

Some distance could be helpful in the midterms. After watching Ramaswamy speak in Miami County, a local GOP activist, Tom Matthew, said he has “reservations” with some Trump policies these days but found Ramaswamy to be “fresh air.”

In Acton, Ramaswamy has an especially galvanizing opponent for Ohio Republicans due to her leading role in the state’s Covid-19 shutdowns. They refer to her as “the Anthony Fauci of Ohio.” In Darke County, a life-size cutout of Acton wearing a mask awaited Republicans at the end of the dessert line.

Acton has generally defended her record and made a point of noting she was working under a Republican governor in DeWine, who earlier this year defended her against a Ramaswamy ad claiming she decided to delay Ohio’s primaries in 2020. And she’s also appealed to independents and Republicans by breaking with her party on issues such as transgender athletes’ participation in sports.

But her decision not to debate Ramaswamy has proven especially animating for Republicans and fueled the perception she is running a more buttoned-up campaign. Ramaswamy mentioned her refusal to debate no fewer than a dozen times throughout the weekend.

In a statement for this story, Acton said Ramaswamy “isn’t just out of touch, he’s out for himself.”

“It’s no surprise the only people who would benefit from his plans are billionaires like him,” she said.

As Ramaswamy campaigned across three solidly Republican counties this weekend, a handful of voters said they were firmly opposed to Acton but still coming around on Ramaswamy. One of them, Charlene Pickerill-Bowman, said she walked into the Darke County hog roast undecided on Ramaswamy and left a supporter.

Another woman, Darla Medal, said she was “leaning toward” Ramaswamy after hearing his bold campaign promises in Monroe County.

“If he can do it all, that would be great,” she said. “I just think that it’s been bad lately, the last couple of years. I think the Democrats (have) put us there and the Republicans are going to have to pull us out, hopefully — hopefully — and it just depends on who’s going to do it.”

周六，维韦克·拉马斯瓦米在俄亥俄州人口倒数第二少的县举行市政厅会议，他似乎比以往任何时候都更远离了三年前他首次涉足政坛的总统竞选之路。

唐纳德·特朗普总统几乎没有被提及。伊朗战争也只字未提。

相反，拉马斯瓦米在俄亥俄州和西弗吉尼亚州交界的门罗县回答了多个问题，这些问题是关于如果他当选，他将如何支付他承诺的房产税减免的费用，他声称这是该州历史上规模最大的此类减免。

拉马斯瓦米曾表示：“有些事情是州长无法控制的，我不会给你们任何虚假的承诺。”

这位生物科技企业家正尝试一条罕见的政治道路：从全国瞩目的总统候选人转型竞选州级公职，一改总统竞选时咄咄逼人、极具挑衅性的风格。他选择在这个共和党人处境艰难的选举周期做出这一转变。

更糟糕的是，他还试图说服一个以白人、基督教徒和中产阶级为主的州，让他成为该州第一位印度裔美国人州长、第一位印度教州长和第一位亿万富翁州长。

这场竞选并不轻松。尽管特朗普很早就公开支持拉马斯瓦米，但他仍然不得不面对共和党内部的质疑和质疑。他的民主党对手是俄亥俄州前公共卫生主任艾米·阿克顿，阿克顿拒绝与他辩论，称她不会为“惯于撒谎的人”提供辩论平台。民调显示，尽管拉马斯瓦米的竞选团队及其盟友已在该州投入超过1.2亿美元的广告费用，是阿克顿一方投入的三倍多，但选情依然胶着。

这对于拉马斯瓦米来说，无疑是一项艰巨的任务，因为他要在一个特朗普在 2024 年以 11 个百分点的优势赢得的州获得通过——而对于这位辛辛那提本地人来说，这也让他接受了一次政治教育。

“我认为他在全州各地走访，尤其是在像俄亥俄州这样幅员辽阔、文化多元的州，肯定学到了不少东西，”俄亥俄州共和党策略师特里·凯西说。“了解所有这些细微差别，与地方民选官员交谈，你会看到和听到一些事情，并意识到一些现实情况。”

拉马斯瓦米承认，他并不符合俄亥俄州典型州级候选人的形象。他的竞选与参议院选举形成鲜明对比，在参议院选举中，两位在俄亥俄州政坛拥有数十年经验的候选人——共和党参议员乔恩·赫斯特德和前民主党参议员谢罗德·布朗——正在激烈角逐。

“我是一名商人，”41岁的拉马斯瓦米周日在达克县共和党烤猪宴上说道。当时，他正与其他几位大多是年纪较大的白人候选人一起亮相，这些人已经在哥伦布市工作。“我不是在俄亥俄州政坛长大的，这一点我首先要承认。我没有俄亥俄州政府的工作经验。今天在座的各位候选人大多都有这方面的经验，我们会依靠他们……但就我而言，我是一个局外人。”

拉马斯瓦米随后接受CNN采访时表示，他逐渐意识到州长的影响力有多大，即使这种影响力“并非来自国家文化思潮”。他以房产税为例，称其已从他关注的“五大问题”跃升为“首要问题”。

民主党人表示，拉马斯瓦米给人一种精英主义、脱离群众的印象，并指出他经常乘坐私人飞机往返于竞选活动之间。阿克顿最新的一则竞选广告中，拉马斯瓦米在一段早前的电视采访中开玩笑说自己是“富得流油”。

然而，拉马斯瓦米的盟友表示，他正在逆境中开展一场充满活力的竞选活动。

“现在的形势很严峻，”参议员伯尼·莫雷诺在拉马斯瓦米周日于迈阿密县共和党野餐会上发表讲话后告诉CNN。“我觉得如果油价涨到每加仑2美元……他能赢20个百分点。所以你不能把全国层面的形势和选票上的情况割裂开来。但最终，我认为维韦克会赢。”

在特朗普2025年1月第二次就职典礼当天，拉马斯瓦米宣布他不会像最初预期的那样加入埃隆·马斯克新成立的政府效率部。一个月后，特朗普在拉马斯瓦米宣布竞选的当天就公开支持了他。

马克·谢费尔贝因/美联社

俄亥俄州共和党高层迟迟未能团结在他周围。时任州检察长戴夫·约斯特继续竞选州长约三个月，直到州共和党支持拉马斯瓦米后才退出。曾带领俄亥俄州立大学橄榄球队夺得冠军的副州长吉姆·特雷塞尔直到九月才放弃参选的可能性。

即将卸任的共和党州长迈克·德瓦恩直到今年一月才表态支持拉马斯瓦米，此前拉马斯瓦米宣布州参议院议长罗布·麦科利为他的竞选搭档。

拉马斯瓦米最终在五月份的党内初选中遭遇了一位名不见经传的汽车工程师凯西·普奇的挑战。普奇把自己塑造成一个更接地气的普通人，并利用种族矛盾大做文章，暗示拉马斯瓦米蔑视“美国文化价值观”。普奇获得了18%的选票，但他拒绝支持拉马斯瓦米。

根据皮尤研究中心宗教景观研究，在64%的成年人自认为是基督徒的州，拉马斯瓦米作为一名虔诚的印度教徒显得格外引人注目。周日，在达克县，一位牧师带领共和党候选人祈祷，希望他们“顺服”上帝，拉马斯瓦米也参与其中。

哥伦布基督教美德中心主席亚伦·贝尔表示，他早期支持拉马斯瓦米的部分原因是想表明这位候选人是基督徒的盟友。贝尔说，在最初阶段，“我们很多人都感到担忧”，但现在这已不再是紧张的根源。

“总会有一些网络喷子之类的东西，但实际上，实际情况是，一切都进展得非常顺利，”贝尔说。

曾代表俄亥俄州西部农村地区一个铁杆共和党选区的州众议员杰娜·鲍威尔表示，她一直“全力支持”拉马斯瓦米，并敦促其他共和党人团结起来。

“你知道，人们对他们想要的州长人选有不同的想法，”鲍威尔说，“但正如我告诉每一位共和党人的那样，初选已经结束了，我们有了维韦克，我们希望他成为我们的共和党州长。”

周六，拉马斯瓦米在门罗县的蓝领选民支持度成为焦点。门罗县是阿巴拉契亚山脉中心地带的共和党工人阶级堡垒。他的竞选搭档，同样来自该地区的州级候选人杰伊·爱德华兹，为他做了介绍。爱德华兹承认，他们“来自两个不同的世界”和“不同的财富阶层”。

“我会严格要求他，”爱德华兹说，“但我认为他不需要这么做。”

拉马斯瓦米的演讲引起了一位名叫克里斯·威尔逊的听众的共鸣。威尔逊说，他当了十多年的煤矿工人，现在从事的行业正受到特朗普对加拿大加征关税的冲击。威尔逊说，拉马斯瓦米似乎是“美国蓝领阶层”的代言人。

“如果他愿意帮助这些人，那我不在乎他出身如何，”威尔逊说。“我关心的是他的政策是什么，以及这些政策会给我们带来什么好处。”

拉马斯瓦米并没有向中间路线靠拢。他承诺要成为俄亥俄州历史上“最保守”的州长。拉马斯瓦米2021年出版的《觉醒公司》（Woke Inc.）一书助其政治崛起，而他本人至今仍强烈反对“跨性别主义”和“气候主义”。

但即便如此，他仍然会遇到执政与竞选之间的现实差异。他面临着这样的质疑：在他计划降低房产税并逐步取消州所得税的情况下，他将如何为公共教育和其他州政府服务提供资金？

今年早些时候，拉马斯瓦米曾提议关闭俄亥俄州的一些公立大学，以资助降低所得税的计划，此举也引起了轩然大波。周六被问及此事时，他没有重提此事，但总体上承诺会做出艰难的决定来应对入学人数下降的问题。

“如果说有一个人能够拯救俄亥俄州的高等教育体系，那这个人就是我，”他说。

策略师凯西表示，这一事件表明拉马斯瓦米在某些政策领域一开始采取的是“粗略的”策略，并随着他作为候选人的成长而不断完善这些策略。

拉马斯瓦米还不得不回应选民对数据中心日益增长的担忧，他在8月份提出一项提案，要求除非满足三个条件（包括为附近居民提供免费电力），否则禁止任何新项目。阿克顿也提出了她自己的“有条件”数据中心禁令，并强调了拉马斯瓦米过去的言论，他曾称俄亥俄州数据中心的激增是“一件好事”。

自称终身共和党人、反数据中心组织“保护俄亥俄州”的负责人尼克·欧文斯表示，他看到拉马斯瓦米在这个问题上的立场发生了转变。

欧文斯说：“维韦克显然更清楚地意识到超大规模数据中心的发展对俄亥俄州农村居民的影响。我认为他之前只是从纯粹的经济发展角度来看待这个问题，并没有真正理解这对俄亥俄州普通民众以及构成‘让美国再次伟大’（MAGA）支持者群体的众多俄亥俄州居民的影响。”

拉马斯瓦米在周末的竞选活动中很少刻意与特朗普捆绑在一起，这与他竞选总统时形成了鲜明对比，当时他甚至在与特朗普竞争的同时，也对特朗普大加赞扬。

在中期选举中，保持一定的距离或许是有益的。当地共和党活动人士汤姆·马修在迈阿密县观看了拉马斯瓦米的演讲后表示，他对特朗普近期的一些政策“有所保留”，但觉得拉马斯瓦米的演讲“令人耳目一新”。

在阿克顿，拉马斯瓦米因其在俄亥俄州新冠疫情封锁措施中扮演的领导角色，成为俄亥俄州共和党人特别关注的对手。他们称她为“俄亥俄州的安东尼·福奇”。在达克县，一个戴着口罩的阿克顿真人大小的纸板人像在甜点队伍的尽头迎接共和党人。

阿克顿通常为自己的政绩辩护，并特别指出她当时是在共和党州长德瓦恩手下工作。今年早些时候，德瓦恩曾为她辩护，反驳拉马斯瓦米的一则广告，该广告声称阿克顿决定推迟俄亥俄州2020年的初选。此外，她还在一些问题上与本党立场相左，例如跨性别运动员参加体育运动，以此来吸引独立选民和共和党人。

但她拒绝与拉马斯瓦米辩论的决定，尤其激起了共和党人的热情，也加深了人们对她竞选策略更为谨慎的印象。整个周末，拉马斯瓦米至少十几次提到她拒绝辩论一事。

阿克顿在就此事发表的声明中表示，拉马斯瓦米“不仅脱离群众，而且只为自己谋利”。

“毫不奇怪，他的计划只会让像他一样的亿万富翁受益，”她说。

本周末，拉马斯瓦米在三个共和党铁票仓县进行竞选活动时，一些选民表示，他们原本坚决反对阿克顿，但现在却开始倾向于拉马斯瓦米。其中一位名叫查琳·皮克里尔-鲍曼的选民说，她走进达克县烤猪聚会时对拉马斯瓦米还犹豫不决，但离开时却成了他的支持者。

另一位名叫达拉·梅达尔的女士表示，在门罗县听到拉马斯瓦米大胆的竞选承诺后，她“倾向于”支持他。

“如果他能做到这一切，那就太好了，”她说。“我只是觉得最近几年情况很糟糕。我认为是民主党把我们推到这个地步的，共和党必须把我们拉出来，但愿如此——但愿如此——这取决于谁来做这件事。”