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Vivek Ramaswamy: ‘Victimhood Is a Choice’
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during a campaign rally on February 25, 2025, in Toledo. (Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Ohio Republican is running for governor—and betting that optimism wins the Rust Belt.
By Peter Savodnik
01.15.26 — U.S. Politics
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In a little more than three months, Vivek Ramaswamy, the 40-year-old billionaire biotech entrepreneur, will almost definitely win the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Ohio.

He’s been inching toward victory for the better part of a year, first picking up the endorsement of the state party and then from Donald Trump—who called Ramaswamy “something special.”

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One by one, his Republican rivals have dropped out of the race.

Then, last week, Ramaswamy announced his pick for lieutenant governor: Rob McColley, the well-regarded state senate president.

There was only one important Republican in Ohio who had yet to join Team Ramaswamy: Governor Mike DeWine.

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Peter Savodnik
Peter Savodnik is senior editor at The Free Press. Previously, he wrote for Vanity Fair as well as GQ, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Wired, and other publications, reporting from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, South Asia, and across the United States. His book, The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union, was published in 2013.
Tags:
Vivek Ramaswamy
Education
Republicans
Economics
MAGA
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