CLEVELAND — Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who will announce his candidature for Ohio governor on Monday, wants to reshape public education, reduce regulations, and cut spending.
It’s a disruptive agenda that sounds very similar to the one Ramaswamy helped create for President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
However, in an interview with NBC News ahead of his campaign launch, the former Republican presidential candidate paused when confronted with that observation.
“There are a lot of people sort of eager to sort of make that analogy and characteriszation,” he said. “But I think I characterise my vision for Ohio expansively.”
It is still difficult to separate DOGE from Ramaswamy’s governorship bid. Ramaswamy, 39, was expected to lead the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative alongside billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk.
He explained that his decision to step down before DOGE was officially launched reflected a recognition that the job would prevent him from campaigning and a belief that he could be more useful to the cause back home in Ohio.
“President Trump, Elon and I had a great relationship but talked about exactly where each of us was going to drive maximum change for the country,” he said. “And, for me, I believe that leading from the front here in Ohio and setting an example for the rest of the country and, frankly, even bringing some of the principles of efficiency and spending and deregulation to our state would be the way that I as a leader would be able to have the biggest impact.”
Ramaswamy’s association with DOGE, as well as the Trump administration’s overall push to reorient the federal government and cut spending, could help him position himself as a change agent, even as he seeks to extend the GOP’s 16-year hold on Ohio.
It may also be a liability. Ohio has a sizable number of federal employees, and residents are concerned about the future of federal Medicaid funding.
In a recent CNN poll, 51% of respondents said Trump has gone “too far” in reducing federal programmes. (Another 32% said Trump has “been about right” and 17% said he has “not gone far enough.”)
“I think the way we’re going to do it in Ohio, the way we’re going to run the state, is going to be, I believe, wildly popular with everyone who is a parent and has skin in the game for the next generation,” Ramaswamy said when asked if he was concerned about political consequences.
Ramaswamy filed paperwork earlier this month to start fundraising for the race, and he plans to begin a statewide announcement tour Monday night in Cincinnati. His long-anticipated campaign has shaken up the GOP field in Ohio, where Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is barred from seeking a third term.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost entered the race earlier than expected, in mid-January, following the initial buzz about Ramaswamy’s campaign.
State Treasurer Robert Sprague, who had been preparing to run and had initially indicated that Ramaswamy’s plans would not affect his own, threw his support behind Ramaswamy this month and launched a bid for Ohio secretary of state.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State football coach whom DeWine recently appointed as his deputy, has also fueled speculation that he may seek the Republican nomination and has not ruled it out.
‘DOGE before DOGE was cool’
Yost, who served two terms as Ohio’s elected auditor prior to his two terms as attorney general, previously ran under the slogan “Peace, love, and skinny government.” In an interview, Yost claimed that he was “DOGE before DOGE was cool.”
“It’s the difference between somebody who can give a speech and somebody who can do a job,” Yost said, distinguishing himself from Ramaswamy. “Not to diminish my own ability to deliver a speech, but the key is that I’ve been on the front lines fighting for the same goals that Ohioans share.
I’ve been in the trenches fighting against federal overreach and defending the Constitution. And I honestly believe I’m much better prepared to bring bold leadership to Ohio.”
Yost, 68, added that he considered Ramaswamy to be a friend, but also described him as a shifty amateur who struggles to follow through on his political commitments.
“He has wanted, over the last year, to be president, to have a Cabinet spot, to be co-leader of DOGE,” Yost recalled. “The governor of Ohio is not a consolation prise.” My concern is that what he appears to do best is quit.
Close advisers to Vice President JD Vance, some of whom have overlapping ties to Trump, agreed last month to lead Ramaswamy’s efforts and an aligned political organisation.
While Ramaswamy has a national profile and is close to the Trump administration, he remains a political novice and outsider in a state where career officeholders like DeWine and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, have long thrived — at least until Vance won a Senate seat in 2022 in his first bid for office.
Internal polling shared by the Ramaswamy and Yost teams revealed that both are popular among GOP voters in Ohio, highlighting how a Trump endorsement could benefit either candidate.
However, without a Trump endorsement or any other information about Ramaswamy or Yost in the questions, Ramaswamy led both campaigns’ polls.
Ramaswamy declined to comment when asked if he was confident in receiving Trump’s support. Yost stated that he has yet to discuss the race with Trump but hopes to do so. When asked if Trump’s endorsement of Ramaswamy would change his plans, he dodged the question.
“I’m the only person in the race who has had his endorsement,” Yost said, referring to Trump’s support for his 2022 re-election campaign. “And I am very hopeful that I will have it. So the calculation is that with his endorsement, I will not only win, but win convincingly.
‘I’m not looking to pick a fight with anybody’
Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign, which ended before Ohio’s March primary, fueled speculation that he could run for office in his home state.
He had been mentioned as a candidate for Vance’s Senate seat, but DeWine appointed his former lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, to fill the vacancy, eliminating another possible Ramaswamy rival from the gubernatorial race.
Though he has never held elected office, Ramaswamy has developed political ties in Ohio in recent years. Ramaswamy, a Cincinnati native who now lives in Columbus, served on the board of InnovateOhio, a technology-focused agency founded and led by Husted.
“Many of the things that I aspired to accomplish as U.S. president actually more effectively and, in some cases, only could be accomplished by an actual governor,” said Ramaswamy, who added that leaders across the state had “actively recruited” him to run for the position. “I believe Ohio has the potential to be the state that really leads the way in our national revival.”
As he described his vision, Ramaswamy alternated between abstract goals like “energy dominance, manufacturing dominance, and AI dominance” and more specific policy proposals.
He proposed eliminating the state income tax and reforming K-12 education by encouraging homeschooling and implementing a merit-based pay system for public school teachers.
“Merit-based pay for teachers, merit-based pay for principals, administrators and superintendents,” says Ramaswamy. “The best teachers should be paid far more than they are now, but they aren’t because there is no meritocracy in compensation. That would make the state a magnet for the best educators in the nation.”
The income tax and merit pay proposals have surfaced to some extent among previous Republican governors or in a GOP-dominated state legislature, but they have never become law.
Teachers’ unions and other lobbying groups in Columbus, the state capital, have always posed a challenge. Ramaswamy believes that the current political climate is different.
“I would tell you that it is a uniting issue across parents, across the state,” according to him. “My opinion is that I’m not looking to pick a fight with anyone. I am not going to pick a fight with the teachers’ unions or anyone else. What I’m going to advocate for is our students’ success.”
Ramaswamy added, “I don’t think a typical politician can do that job. I believe it will take someone with fresh legs, a governor willing to drive real change. I believe that a leader for our time who is not a traditional politician will be required, and that is a major reason why I am also running in this race.”
As for any future White House ambitions, Ramaswamy pledged to serve at least a four-year term, ruling out a run in 2028 — and a potential primary clash with Vance.
“I’m fully committed to serving the full term,” Ramaswamy stated. “It is my expectation that an agenda as ambitious as the one we’re pursuing will likely take two terms to fully implement.”
