Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (born August 9, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and politician. He founded Roivant Sciences, a biotechnological pharmaceutical company, in 2014 and was its chief executive officer until 2021. Ramaswamy entered national politics as the youngest presidential candidate in the 2024 Republican primaries, but withdrew his bid and endorsed Donald Trump. He is currently the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio in the 2026 gubernatorial election and has been endorsed by both Trump and the Ohio Republican Party.

Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Indian immigrant parents. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Harvard University in 2007 and a Juris Doctor from Yale University in 2013. Ramaswamy became an investment partner at a hedge fund before founding Roivant Sciences in 2014. He also co-founded an investment firm, Strive Asset Management, in 2022. Forbes estimated Ramaswamy's net worth to be $3.1 billion in August 2026, derived primarily from his biotech and financial businesses.

Ramaswamy largely remained apolitical until 2020, when he supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election. In 2021, Ramaswamy wrote his first book, Woke Inc, and appeared on cable networks arguing against left-wing "woke" policies. He also became an active donor to the Republican Party. He briefly considered running in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Ohio.

Early life Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy was born on August 9, 1985, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Tamil Palakkad Iyer parents from India. His father, Vadakanchery Ganapathy Ramaswamy, a graduate of the National Institute of Technology Calicut, worked as an engineer for General Electric, while his mother, Geetha Ramaswamy, a graduate of the Mysore Medical College & Research Institute, worked as a geriatric psychiatrist for Merck and Schering-Plough. His parents hail from the Palakkad district in Kerala, where the family had an ancestral Agraharam home. Growing up, Ramaswamy often attended the local Hindu temple in Dayton with his family. His conservative Christian piano teacher, who gave him private lessons from elementary through high school, also influenced his social views.

Education Ramaswamy attended public schools through eighth grade. He then attended Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School, a Catholic school affiliated with the Jesuit order, graduating as valedictorian in 2003.

Ramaswamy received a Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) with a major in biology from Harvard University in 2007. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. At Harvard, he gained a reputation as a brash and confident libertarian. He was a member of the Harvard Political Union, becoming its president. and was an intern for Amaranth Advisors, a hedge fund, and investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Business career Early career In 2007, Ramaswamy and Travis May co-founded Campus Venture Network, which published a private social networking website for university students who aspired to launch a business. The company was sold to the nonprofit Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2009.

Ramaswamy worked at the hedge fund QVT Financial from 2007 to 2014. He was a partner and co-managed the firm's biotech portfolio. and Martin Shkreli's Retrophin. In a 2023 speech and in his book Woke Inc., Ramaswamy called Shkreli, whose company had greatly increased the cost of a life-saving drug, both "brilliant" and a pathological liar. He criticized the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecuting Shkreli, calling his fraud a victimless crime. including Dermavant (focused on dermatology), Urovant (focused on urological disease), and China-based Sinovant and Cytovant, both focused on the Asian market.

In 2015, Ramaswamy raised $360 million for the Roivant subsidiary Axovant Sciences in an attempt to market intepirdine as a drug for Alzheimer's disease. Axovant purchased the patent for intepirdine from GlaxoSmithKline (where the drug had failed four previous clinical trials) for $5 million, a small sum in the industry. Before new clinical trials began, he engineered Axovant's initial public offering (IPO); The company's value plunged; it lost 75% in one day and continued to decline afterward. and dissolved in 2023. In 2017, Ramaswamy struck a deal with Masayoshi Son in which SoftBank invested $1.1 billion in Roivant. Ramaswamy made $175 million in capital gains from the sale. In 2021, after he resigned as CEO, Roivant was listed on the Nasdaq via a reverse merger with Montes Archimedes Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition vehicle. In February 2023, Ramaswamy stepped down as chair of Roivant to focus on his presidential campaign.

Ramaswamy remains the sixth-largest shareholder of Roivant, During Ramaswamy's time running Roivant the company had never been profitable. Although Ramaswamy's presidential campaign centered on opposing corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives, RSV worked in support of pro-DEI and ESG initiatives, including promoting health equity and diversity within the biopharma and biotech industries. Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management, a Columbus, Ohio-based asset management firm. The firm raised about $20 million from outside investors,

Pension fund managers take account of ESG in the assessment of long-term risk, including climate risks, when making portfolio decisions. Ramaswamy has crusaded against ESG

Strive's flagship fund, the exchange-traded fund DRLL, launched in 2022 as an "anti-woke" energy sector index fund. Ramaswamy said that Strive would push energy companies to drill for more oil, frack for more natural gas, and "do whatever allows them to be most successful over the long run without regard to political, social, cultural or environmental agendas."

In October 2022, Ramaswamy held closed-door meetings with South Carolina lawmakers in a session arranged by state treasurer Curtis Loftis; during the meetings, Ramaswamy pitched Strive to manage South Carolina pension funds. In June 2023, after The Post and Courier reported on the meetings, the sessions were criticized as a form of unregistered lobbying; Ramaswamy's campaign manager denied any impropriety. before resigning in February 2023 to focus on his presidential campaign.

In August 2026, a federal judge declined to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit against Ramaswamy stemming from his tenure at Strive. Former Strive executive Joyce Rosely alleged that Ramaswamy and other executives pressured her to engage in securities-law violations and that she was fired after objecting to the alleged conduct. The ruling allowed her whistleblower retaliation claims to proceed, without determining whether the alleged securities-law violations occurred.

Other ventures In 2020, Ramaswamy co-founded Chapter Medicare, a Medicare navigation platform. He participated in the Ohio COVID-19 Response Team.

He was chairman of OnCore Biopharma, a position he maintained at Tekmira Pharmaceuticals when the two companies merged in March 2015. He also was chair of the board of Arbutus Biopharma, a Canadian firm. later increased to 8.4%, making him the second-largest Class A shareholder in the company. Soon after the acquisition, he sent a letter to the company's board of directors, in which he suggested they hire conservative pundits such as Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and Bill Maher, as well as three "high-profile directors, with strong track business records in new media" whom he knew.

Political career Early political involvement Ramaswamy said that he voted for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee in 2004, but did not vote in the presidential elections in 2008, 2012, or 2016. He described himself as apolitical during this period. He supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

2024 presidential campaign

Ramaswamy speaks with supporters at a town hall in Des Moines, Iowa. On February 21, 2023, Ramaswamy declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2024 on Tucker Carlson Tonight. He publicly released 20 years of his individual income tax returns and called upon his rivals in the primary to do the same. His fundraising lagged far behind Donald Trump's and Ron DeSantis's, but exceeded most of the other Republican primary candidates'. that he shares those values; he often attacked DeSantis but avoided directly criticizing Trump.

In May 2023, Ramaswamy's campaign admitted that he had paid an editor to alter his Wikipedia biography before announcing his candidacy, but denied that the payment for edits was politically motivated. The edits to the Wikipedia biography removed references to Ramaswamy's postgraduate fellowship from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, as well as his involvement with the Ohio COVID-19 Response Team. For the remainder of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Ramaswamy served the Trump campaign as a political surrogate, representing the Trump campaign and attending campaign events in place of the candidate.

Department of Government Efficiency A week after the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Ramaswamy and businessman Elon Musk had been tasked to lead the newly proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). However, Ramaswamy never worked with the DOGE team during the Trump administration, as on Inauguration Day, he dropped out of DOGE to focus on a potential 2026 Ohio gubernatorial campaign. The departure was reportedly due to friction between Ramaswamy and other DOGE leadership and staff, as well as Ramaswamy stating American work culture "venerated mediocrity over excellence".

2026 Ohio gubernatorial election On February 15, 2025, Ramaswamy filed to enter the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election. He officially announced his run on February 24. On the same day, when Ramaswamy launched his campaign for Ohio governorship, he was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who posted "Vivek is also a very good person, who truly loves our Country, He will be a GREAT Governor of Ohio, will never let you down, and has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!"

According to political analysts, Trump's early backing of Ramaswamy's candidacy was expected to help his campaign and help to avoid a difficult primary campaign. On May 9, 2025, Ramaswamy received the official endorsement of the Ohio Republican Party's State Central Committee, marking the earliest the state Republican Party had ever endorsed a non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate.

On January 6, 2026, Ramaswamy announced that he had selected Ohio State Senate President Rob McColley as his running mate for lieutenant governor. On January 7, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine endorsed Ramaswamy's candidacy.

Later that month, Ramaswamy's campaign ended its contract with a private security firm after a bodyguard assigned to his family was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges; it was later disclosed that several guards provided by the firm were not properly licensed to work as armed security in Ohio.

In the May 5 Republican primary, Ramaswamy defeated Casey Putsch, 82.5% to 17.5%.

If elected, Ramaswamy would become Ohio's first Indian American and billionaire governor.

Political positions

Ramaswamy has often described himself as an American nationalist. He has described the United States as being in the middle of a national identity crisis, precipitated by what he calls "new secular religions like COVID-ism, climate-ism, and gender ideology". Although they were running against each other for the 2024 Republican nomination, Ramaswamy vocally supported Trump. After Trump was indicted on federal criminal charges in 2023, Ramaswamy supported him, promising to pardon Trump if elected president. He also promised to pardon Julian Assange, Ross Ulbricht, and Edward Snowden. He suggested that he considered Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a possible running mate. Anti-woke In 2023, The New York Times described Ramaswamy as an anti-woke candidate. Ramaswamy gained recognition in right-wing circles by opposing corporate E.S.G. programs that advance political, social and environmental causes in businesses. Ramaswamy has opposed affirmative action, and vowed to rescind the now revoked Executive Order 11246. He argued that American-style capitalism provides an antidote to India's caste system. He has often equated abortion to murder. In the past, he has supported state-level six-week abortion bans, with exceptions for rape, incest, and danger to the woman's life.

LGBTQ rights Ramaswamy called the LGBTQ movement a "cult". He said through a spokesman that he believes same-sex marriage is "settled precedent" but supported broad restrictions on the rights of transgender Americans, and used anti-trans rhetoric.

Executive power Ramaswamy pledged, if elected, to rule by executive fiat He pledged to fire 75% of federal employees; dismantle civil service protections, making federal employment at-will; and abolish at least five federal agencies, including the Education Department, FBI, ATF, IRS, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. He called the Food and Drug Administration "corrupt" and vowed to "expose and ultimately gut" the FDA. He asserted that the president has the unilateral power to abolish agencies by executive order, although executive agencies and departments are created by statute, and under the Constitution, Congress has the power of the purse. This proposal would have disenfranchised a portion of the U.S. electorate; nearly 9% of voters in the 2020 general election were under 25. He said he would have allowed citizens between 18 and 24 to vote only if they are enlisted in the military, work as first responders, or pass the civics test required for naturalization. He also supported making Election Day a federal holiday, while eliminating Juneteenth (which he called "useless" and "redundant") as a federal holiday.

Border control Ramaswamy pledged to "use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels". Taxes He took no public position on the 2017 Trump tax cuts. In a thought experiment he expressed support for an inheritance tax,

Work visas Ramaswamy has supported the reforming of the H-1B visa, a work visa program for non-US citizens, noting problems with the current lottery-based system and suggesting it should instead be based on merit.

Foreign affairs

Ramaswamy said he would not have used U.S. military force against Iran. In November 2023, he condemned Azerbaijan's military operation against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and said that the U.S. should block all its military aid to Azerbaijan.

Russia-Ukraine Ramaswamy said he favored "some major concessions to Russia, including freezing those current lines of control in a Korean-war style armistice agreement" to end the Russo-Ukrainian War.

He favored ending U.S. military aid to Ukraine, excluding Ukraine from NATO, and allowing Russia to remain in occupied regions of Ukraine in exchange for an agreement that Russia end its alliance with China. China-Taiwan He expressed support for Taiwanese independence, and floated the idea of "putting a gun in every Taiwanese household" to deter an invasion by China, but said the U.S. should not militarily defend Taiwan from Chinese attack after the U.S. has achieved "semiconductor independence", which he pledged to achieve by 2028. Israel-Palestine Ramaswamy is pro-Israel and calls Israel "a Divine nation, charged with a Divine purpose". Ramaswamy has said Israel should feel free to oppose the two-state solution.

After Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Ramaswamy said that in his view, "Israel should be able to make the decisions of how it defends itself" while suggesting that the U.S. should provide a "diplomatic Iron Dome" for Israel. Regarding the U.S. aid to Israel, he said that it should be contingent upon Israel's plans for defeating Hamas and its actions in Gaza.

Climate and energy Although he said he is not a climate denier,

At other times, he said that he accepted that burning fossil fuels causes climate change,

In 2022, he urged Chevron to increase oil production and criticized its support for a carbon tax. Promotion of conspiracy theories In Republican primary debates and campaign appearances, Ramaswamy often repeated and promoted an array of right-wing conspiracy theories and falsehoods. In the days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, he condemned the attack, but argued that social media bans on Trump violate the First Amendment. Later, while running for president, Ramaswamy repeatedly claimed that the January 6 attack "was an inside job", a claim supported by no evidence and refuted by numerous investigations.

Invoking September 11 conspiracy theories, he asked whether "federal agents were on the planes" that hit the Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks.

He has asserted that "big tech" played a role in stealing the 2020 election, referring the Hunter Biden laptop story being suppressed by the mainstream media and social networks, while also claiming that the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory was "the Democratic Party's platform" to benefit from demographic shifts. They married in 2015 and have two sons and a daughter. Ramaswamy has a younger brother, Shankar,

Ramaswamy is a monotheistic Hindu. and understands (but does not speak) Malayalam. According to his parents, he has tried to develop a good understanding of both Eastern and Western culture.

During his early venture capitalist career, he lived in Manhattan. As of 2021, he owned a house in Butler County, Ohio,

Electoral history 2024

2026

Published works