Vivek Ramaswamy To Announce Ohio Governor Bid Tomorrow

Biotech businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is likely to formally announce his bid for Ohio governor this Tuesday (IST). This comes after the fact that he had left the Department of Government Efficiency, known by its acronym DOGE, on the very next day after Donald Trump was sworn in as President.

Ramaswamy, who had earlier briefly run for the 2024 U.S. presidential elections before supporting Trump, will kick off his campaign in Cincinnati at 3:30 p.m. ET on Monday (2 a.m. IST on Tuesday). From there, Ramaswamy's campaign trail will also take him to Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland.

Now that term limits have been reached for current Governor Mike DeWine, the Ohio governor's seat is open. The former Lieutenant Governor who many believed would be the successor to his office, Jon Husted, had rather opted to take on the vacated U.S. Senate seat previously held by Vice President JD Vance. Governor DeWine, however, appointed former Ohio State University football coach, Jim Tressel, as the new Lieutenant Governor.

Ramaswamy's entry into the race adds to a competitive Republican primary field that includes Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Heather Hill, a former member of the state's Martin Luther King Jr Commission. On the Democratic side, Dr Amy Acton, former Ohio Department of Health Director, has declared her candidacy.

Why did Vivek Ramaswamy leave DOGE?

Ramaswamy, 39, had been appointed by Donald Trump to co-lead the DOGE together with billionaire Elon Musk. But, not even a day after Trump's inauguration on January 20, he announced that he was leaving the newly formed department in what seemed to be a quiet clue to his political ambitions in Ohio.

"It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon and the team will succeed in streamlining the 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!" he said in a post on X.