COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the suburbs of Columbus, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy is running his campaign for President of the United States. That's where WCPO 9 traveled to sit down with the hopeful GOP candidate.
Ramaswamy was born and raised in Cincinnati; specifically, Evendale. His dad worked at GE and his mother is a psychiatrist. Both emigrated from India.
Ramaswamy went to Princeton schools before going to St. Xavier High School, where he was Valedictorian of his graduating class. As a Hindu kid in a Catholic school, Ramaswamy said he took a lot away from the differences in his upbringing.
"I was back then one of the lone Hindu kids in a Catholic high school. And so the religious component of that education actually meant a lot to me. Actually I took a lot away from it," Ramaswamy said.
A boy who didn't look like others with parents whose accents didn't sound like others, he says he understood their differences and how they, as Americans, were the same. He was part of a melting pot that he embraces.
"I was born in 1985 in the best, greatest nation on Earth. But if I had been born 20 years later, even in the same place even in Cincinnati. I don't think my story would have been possible in the same way. I'd have been taught to be a victim. Rather than a victor, a winner in America, I'd have been taught to embrace grievance. Embrace the color of my skin more than the content of my contributions in the qualities that make me who I really am," Ramaswamy said.
And it is that idea that is part of his platform as a GOP Presidential candidate. He describes it as a national identity crisis.
"People my age, really any age today, are hungry for purpose and meaning at a moment when we've lost our sense of American identity. (We've) lost our sense of faith, patriotism, hard work, family. The things that used to ground our sense of identity. That's what I think we're missing," Ramaswamy said. "Though I am running for president, it's more of a cultural campaign to revive the heart, soul and identity of this nation."
Ramaswamy says America has gotten away from being able to have open dialogues about tough issues and from being a meritocracy.
"The idea that you get ahead, not in the color of your skin, but in the content of your character and contributions. These are fundamentally American ideas. We have lost our commitment to those ideas. But I don't think that has to be permanent. I think we can rediscover that."
He says he is a conservative but doesn't like the political labels, calling them "artificial."
"I think the divide between Republicans and Democrats isn't the real political divide that matters in America today. The real political divide in America that matters is whether you are pro-American. Or are you fundamentally anti-American? Do you wish to apologize for those ideals and the existence of a nation on the back of them? And I don't think that's a 50-50 split. I think most people in this country are in the pro-American camp, regardless of whether they're Black or white, regardless of whether they're democratic or republican."
After graduating from St. Xavier High School, Ramaswamy went on to get degrees from Harvard and Yale. He worked as a venture capitalist in the biotech space, was CEO of Riovant Sciences and is currently the co-founder of Strive Asset Management.
His fortune has been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars and, while he has gotten some grassroots support, he's primarily bankrolling his presidential campaign himself.
It is an uphill climb for Ramaswamy. A recent CNN poll doesn't list his name and has people who haven't declared their candidacy, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, well ahead of him. Ramaswamy knows he has to get his face and name in the hearts and minds of voters, and he said he isn't just doing this for attention, or another job in politics.
"What draws me into this race isn't entering a political career. To the contrary," he said. "But I just think we're in the middle of this identity void as a country where there isn't another candidate in this movement that's actually offering specific solutions for how we deliver that national identity."
He knows some people will see his positions as controversial. After all, he says, he's simply saying out loud what most people are afraid to utter in public. He says, if elected, he would end race-based affirmative action, abolish the Department of Education and use the military to deal with the drug cartel south of the border.
"Other Republican candidates aren't really saying these things out loud but my ability to do it is grounded in my own personal conviction and vision for this country. And so I think here we can't have a separation of the politician and the visionary. I think we live in a moment where we need both of them in the same candidate. And that's why I'm running for president."
On ending affirmative action, he claims the practice is fundamentally racist.
"I think it is a cancer on our national soul. It is a form of de facto racism. It is an attack on merit. Today we live in a place where if we're really being honest about it, whether it's in universities, whether it's corporate America, the best person doesn't get the job anymore. And you know what? America was supposed to be a country where whoever is going to be most successful in that role, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of their genetics. Whoever is going to do the best job, they're the ones who get the promotion. They're the ones who get the job. They're the ones who get the seat in college."
As to why he says he would abolish the Department of Education, Ramaswamy says he doesn't believe the federal government should have a role in educating children.
"$80 billion spent through that department!. Imagine if we just gave $1.6 billion to each of the fifty states and then direct that to school choice that allows people to have the high school education that I had. That's not popular in the progressive movement. That's not popular amongst teachers unions. But it's actually caring for the students at the expense of the manager class."
He points to an example of progressive education policies hurting people of color that happened in Cincinnati during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Cincinnati Public Schools were closed I believe for close to a better part of a year, if not an entire year. I know my alma mater, where I went to high school, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to go to St. X. I think they missed four or five days, max. Well, that's a story that you see nationwide writ large that creates a form of educational inequity that's going to last for a generation created by the very people who were spouting off about equity."
Ramaswamy says the argument that he is a racist is, "false". Instead, he argues, "I would say that actually, the best way to end discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race ... I actually believe in the power of every individual to empower himself for herself regardless of the color of their skin."
Ramaswamy says he decided to make his run right before Christmas. He spoke to his wife, Apoorva, and he says she told him he had to follow his calling. But with two small children, Karthik, who is 3, and Arjun, who is 7 months old, Ramaswamy knows this will be taxing on his young family. He says he expects to take the children on the road whenever he can so they can spend time together as a family.
"Sometimes you have to just be willing," explains Ramaswamy, "If there's a cause that you believe in deeply enough and for me, it's this country to say, I'm gonna make that jump. I don't know exactly how it's going to go. But the purpose is important enough that everything in life involves taking some risks, and those risks are worth taking."
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