Vivek Ramaswamy with workers in Ida Grove, Iowa, in November 2023. (Fox News)
He launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise as he went from a long shot to a contender for the Republican nomination.
He campaigned on what he called an "America First 2.0" agenda and was one of Trump's biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the "most successful president in our century."
Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid 13 months ago after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a top surrogate on the campaign trail.
Elon Musk (left) and Vivek Ramaswamy (center) were initially named by now-President Donald Trump to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Musk and Ramaswamy recently sparked a firestorm among Trump's hard-core MAGA supporters over their support for H-1B temporary worker visas for highly skilled workers from foreign countries.
Ramaswamy's comments criticizing an American culture that he said "venerated mediocrity over excellence" received plenty of pushback from some leading voices on the right as well as some in Trump's political circle.
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DeWine announced last month that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio that was held by now-Vice President JD Vance until he stepped down ahead of the Trump/Vance inauguration.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost introduces the keynote speaker at the Columbiana County Lincoln Day Dinner in Salem, Ohio on Friday, March 15, 2024. ((Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Ohio GOP Treasurer Robert Sprague, who filed paperwork to run for governor, changed course after Husted's Senate appointment and announced he is running in the Republican primary for Ohio Secretary of State.
Sprague endorsed Ramaswamy, calling him "the leader we need to lead Ohio forward with a bold vision of conversation reform."
Former Morgan County local school board member Heather Hill has also announced she is running for governor as a Republican.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a well-known former Ohio State University head football coach who was sworn in last month to succeed Husted, appears to be mulling a gubernatorial run.
Ohio, which was once a top general election battleground, has shifted to red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated statewide elections, and the eventual GOP nominee will be considered the clear front-runner in the 2026 election.
There's speculation that former longtime Rep. Tim Ryan, the 2022 Democratic Senate nominee in Ohio, is possibly considering a gubernatorial bid, as well as Chris Redfern, a former longtime state representative and former state Democratic Party chair.
Former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton, who was one of the prominent faces of the COVID-19 response in the state, has announced she is running for governor as a Democrat.
As Fox News confirmed last month, leading members of Vice President JD Vance's political team, including two top advisors, are helping Ramaswamy's gubernatorial bid.
Vivek Ramaswamy arrives to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The two Vance advisors are Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance's 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn, after Trump named the first-term senator as his running mate.
Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also helping Ramaswamy, as is Arthur Schwartz, who along with Surabian is a close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr.
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The vice president, who has known Ramaswamy since they both studied at Yale Law School, has put his imprint on Ohio politics since winning his 2022 Senate election.
Vance endorsed now-Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of his 2024 GOP Senate primary victory, and key members of Vance's political team steered Moreno's campaign.
"We don’t have to be a state in decline," Ramaswamy said on Monday. "A decade from now, when we cure a genetic disease; when we send rockets to Mars; when we power our electric grid with nuclear fusion…the thing people are going to say is ‘that’s so Ohio.’ And this is just the beginning."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ramaswamy-officially-launches-gubernatorial-campaign-ohio