Tech billionaire and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will kick off his long-discussed campaign for the Republican nomination for 2026 Ohio governor’s race next Monday, with a two-day statewide tour featuring four stops – Cincinnati and New Albany on Monday, and Strongsville and Toledo on Tuesday.
Like many Republicans, Ramaswamy wants to eliminate Ohio’s income tax – as he mentioned in a video he posted on X earlier this month.
"If you want to be a state that people are flocking into rather than out of, I do think that eventually it's going to be table stakes to be a zero income tax state, to have states with a lower property tax burden in states that, like Texas today, are closer to being regulatory sandboxes for many industries," Ramaswamy said.
In that same video, Ramaswamy also talked about his goals for education.
"I want Ohio to be the first state that implements not just universal school choice universal, including home schooling, but also for the public schools to compete, implements merit-based pay for teachers, administrators, principals. You should be paid a lot more than you are now. I think the best teachers are vastly underpaid," Ramaswamy said. "I think it is insane that a majority of dollars funding into public schools nationally don't even go towards instructional, towards those teachers."
He also talked about a focus on physical fitness – something also mentioned by former Ohio State football coach and newly inaugurated Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, who has not ruled out a run for governor.
Ramaswamy has been building his campaign for governor for weeks. He met with DeWine about being appointed to Vice President JD Vance's US Senate seat, a position that went to then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. Ramaswamy was appointed to by President Trump to head his Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk. But on Inauguration Day, Ramaswamy said he was leaving that team, and a Trump-Vance spokesperson confirmed that, saying he was expected to run for elected office.
Ramaswamy, who’s from Cincinnati and lives in Upper Arlington, has lined up several national conservatives including U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Nancy Mace to endorse him. Treasurer Robert Sprague and Secretary of State Frank LaRose have also endorsed Ramaswamy over Attorney General Dave Yost, who announced his campaign for governor last month after Husted was appointed to Vance's Senate seat. That removed Husted from the GOP contest for governor since Husted is expected to run to retain that Senate seat.
On the first day of his tour on Monday, Ramaswamy is at two Ohio based businesses, CTL Aerospace in Cincinnati at 5:30pm at Axium Packaging in New Albany at 8:30pm. The next day he’s at the Glass City Center, an event facility in Toledo, at 5:30pm and then at the Local Bar in Strongsville at 8:30pm.
