Next year's race for the Republican nomination for governor now has three contenders, with a high-profile former candidate for president with ties to President Trump now in the contest.
Tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy 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". He then headed to a packaging manufacturing company in New Albany in Central Ohio. 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."
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. He was appointed by President Trump to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with fellow billionaire Elon 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 the third candidate seeking the GOP nomination to succeed Mike DeWine as governor. Attorney General Dave Yost has been running for months, though he officially launched his campaign in January. Former Morgan County School Board president Heather Hill is also running.
Though Yost was elected to two full terms in two statewide executive offices - attorney general and auditor - Ramaswamy comes to the race with more endorsements from Ohio Republicans. Treasurer Robert Sprague, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and candidate for auditor Sen. Kristina Roegner have endorsed Ramaswamy, along with national conservatives such as US Sens. 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."
