Ramaswamy has entered his presidential bid with the promise to “put merit back” and end dependence on China. He filed a statement of candidacy and created a presidential committee with the Federal Election Commission.
He joins a large number of Indian-Americans who are now being appointed to high-profile positions, with US Vice President, Kamala Harris being the other popular figure.
Here are 10 things to know about Vivek Ramaswamy
- 37 year old, Vivek Ramaswamy is an Indian-American Republican and businessman.
- He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Indian immigrant parents. His father is a General Electric engineer and his mother is geriatric psychiatrist.
- His parents migrated to the US from Kerala.
- On social media, Ramaswamy describes himself as a “capitalist and citizen”.
- One of the key promises he made during his presidential bid is to end the reliance on China. He stated that the US faces external threats like the rise of China. It “has got to be our top foreign policy threat that we’ve got to respond to, not pointless wars somewhere else. That’s going to require some sacrifice. It’s going to require a declaration of independence from China and complete decoupling. And that’s not going to be easy. It’s going to require some inconvenience,” he told Fox News.
- He attended Harvard and Yale and he is reportedly worth over $500 million and has enough seed money for his campaign in the key early states.
- He got famous by becoming a successful biotech entrepreneur and developing medicines, including five drugs that became FDA-approved. He founded Roivant Sciences in 2014.
- In 2022, he co-founded Strive Asset Management, a assent management firm, which, according to his website, is focused on “restoring the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics”. It was launched with backing from billionaire investors including Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman.
- The Indian-origin millionaire embarked on test runs and fact-finding missions in the US state of Iowa where he has been addressing multiple events, according to a media report.
- Ramaswamy insisted his trip to Iowa and other prep work he is doing for a potential run are serious, the Politico reported on Monday, adding that he said: “this is not a play for attention.”
- He is married to Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy, an assistant professor and surgeon at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
- He is also the second Indian-American to enter the Republican presidential primary.
He announced his presidential bid in a video release and formally launched his longshot bid by decrying what he called a “national identity crisis”, that according to him is driven by a left wing ideology, wherein “faith, patriotism and hard work: has been replaced with “new secular religions like COVID-ism, climate-ism and gender ideology.”
“We have obsessed so much over our diversity and our difference that we forgot all the ways we’re really just the same as Americans,” he says.
In a Wall Street Journal editorial published at the same time, he pledged to repeal civil service protections for federal workers if he wins, as well as work to eliminate affirmative action, including directing the Justice Department to prosecute “illegal race-based preferences.”
