Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy , the Republican candidate running for Ohio governor, will be facing Democratic candidate Amy Acton and Libertarian candidate Don Kissick in the November 2026 elections. Competing to become the 71st governor of Ohio, if elected, Ramaswamy would become the first Indian American governor of the state. Whoever wins will succeed Republican incumbent Mike DeWine who won’t be appearing for re-elections due to term limits.
the campaign brought him a lot of recognition Although he later withdrew and endorsed President Donald Trump . Trump endorsed Ramaswamy for governor, calling him a strong candidate. Ramaswamy attended St. Xavier High School, a Catholic school in Cincinnati, Ohio. He went on to study biology at Harvard College, where he also served as president of the Harvard Political Union.
Ramaswamy made it to the headlines during his 2024 presidential bid, entering the race as a Republican candidate. In 2025, he announced his bid for Ohio governor, taking his political career from the national stage to his home state. Before entering politics, he founded Roivant Sciences in 2014, a pharmaceutical company and went on to co-found Strive Asset Management in 2022. He later enrolled at Yale Law School and earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2013. He even received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2011 to support his legal studies.
Ramaswamy went on to call Trump “the best president of the 21st century” as well.
Moreover, Ramaswamy has urged to reduce government spending and make Ohio’s state government more efficient. He has proposed cutting unnecessary regulations and reducing bureaucracy to save public money. His plan also includes bringing different government agencies together. He believes these changes can prevent fraud and increase efficiency. His priorities and positions are heavily influenced by Trump. He expressed that while Trump’s job was to put Americans first, his own job was to put Ohioans first. Ramaswamy has called for an end to the Iran conflict, arguing that it has contributed to rising fuel prices and increased costs for Ohio families and farmers. He has focused on reducing high fuel prices and proposed a temporary suspension of Ohio’s gas and diesel taxes. Furthermore, Ramaswamy supports introducing artificial intelligence into education and believes students should learn how to use the technology. He has also made AI data centers a key issue in his current campaign, urging data centers to provide electricity benefits, pay property taxes, along with meeting air and water quality standards. His plan also calls for pausing new data centers until these rules become a law.
In October 2026, he said he wanted the war to end but acknowledged that foreign policy was beyond the control of an Ohio governor. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Ramaswamy also opposed sending US troops into a war with Iran.
He has said schools must prepare children for a future dominated by AI and other technologies.
At Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference, Ramaswamy rejected the idea that a person’s ancestry determined how American they were, saying that “there is no American who is more American than somebody else. You either are an American, or you are not”. He built much of his fortune through investments in the biotechnology industry and by founding Roivant Sciences. If elected, Ramaswamy would be the third richest elected US official, claimed Forbes .
In December 2025, Ramaswamy clashed with far-right commentator Nick Fuentes over racism and the meaning of American identity. At the conference on December 19, Ramaswamy directly criticised Fuentes for praising Adolf Hitler and promoting hatred against different ethnic groups. Fuentes responded by saying that he would oppose Ramaswamy’s bid for Ohio governor in 2026. Vivek Ramaswamy has an estimated net worth of $2.3 billion as of September 2026, according to Forbes .
He said, “we have to deny Vivek Ramaswamy the governorship” and used a racial slur against him.
