Vivek Ramaswamy will launch his 2026 campaign for Ohio governor in one week, sources confirm to Fox News.
The multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur, who went from long shot to contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out 13 months ago and becoming a top supporter and surrogate of now-President Donald Trump, will announce his candidacy on Feb. 24 in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Ramaswamy will kick off his campaign – in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine – at CTL Aerospace just outside of Cincinnati. AP was first to report the news.
Sources with knowledge say CTL Aerospace, a privately held company that specializes in aviation repair and original equipment manufacturing, symbolizes Ramaswamy’s push for a new age of growth of industry in Ohio.
RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Vivek Ramaswamy, who is expected to launch a Republican campaign for Ohio governor in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, is seen arriving at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The candidate is expected to make stops over the following two days in the Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland areas.
Ramaswamy, who’s now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise.
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He campaigned on what he called an “America First 2.0” agenda and was one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the “most successful president in our century.”
Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid in January of last year after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a staple for the former and future president on the campaign trail during the general election.
Vivek Ramaswamy endorses former President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Jan. 16, 2024. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE.
But late last month, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy’s exit appeared to clear the way for Musk, Trump’s top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight.
“It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote at the time.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were named by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Ramaswamy and Musk sparked a firestorm among Trump’s hard core MAGA supporters over their support for H-1B temporary worker visas for highly skilled workers from foreign countries. Ramaswamy’s comments criticizing an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence” received plenty of pushback from some leading voices on the right as well as some in Trump’s political circle.
DeWine announced last month that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by JD Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate, until he stepped down ahead of the inauguration.
Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate.
Gov. Mike DeWine announces his appointment of Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by JD Vance, on Jan. 17, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)
DeWine’s decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy’s move toward launching a run for governor.
Top members of Vance’s political team – including advisors Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance’s 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn – are helping Ramaswamy as he runs for governor.
Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, as is Arthur Schwartz, a close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr.
The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced last month his candidacy for governor.
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“This is my heart, my home,” Yost said in a press release announcing his candidacy. “I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses. From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I’m thinking about them and our future.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost speaks at the Columbiana County Lincoln Day Dinner in Salem, Ohio, on March 15, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Yost also brought in staff from Trump’s political world, announcing that former Trump campaign official Justin Clark had joined the campaign as a general consultant.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a well-known former Ohio State University head football coach who was sworn in last month to succeed Husted, appears to be mulling a gubernatorial run.
Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton is currently the only Democrat in the race.
Ohio, which was once a top general election battleground, has shifted red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated statewide elections.
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Ramaswamy was raised in Evendale, Ohio, in suburban Cincinnati by parents who emigrated from India. His father worked as an engineer at General Electric Aviation and his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist. Ramaswamy and his family currently live in suburban Columbus.
The soon-to-be candidate filed paperwork on Friday with the Ohio secretary of state’s office ahead of his campaign launch.
