The multimillionaire former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy is hoping to rekindle his waning Republican presidential bid in 2024 with a better-than-anticipated performance in the Iowa caucus, the first state Republican nominating contest, on Monday.
A Hindu raised in the United States
Born in Ohio to immigrant parents from southern India, Ramaswamy is 38 years old. Despite attending a Roman Catholic high school, he was raised in his parents’ Hindu home. Prior to attending Yale Law School, he graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biology.
Before receiving his Yale degree, Ramaswamy, an investor in hedge funds, claims to have made several million dollars. He established his own biotech business, Roivant Sciences, in 2014, purchasing patents for medications that were not yet completely developed and marketed from bigger corporations. As CEO, he left in 2021. In 2023, the business magazine Forbes estimated Ramaswamy’s wealth at $630 million.
Republican presidential campaign
When Ramaswamy filed for president in February of last year, he was considered a long shot. While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley compete for second place, he experienced a brief boom before settling into a distant fourth place.
Ramaswamy drew attention and criticism for his combative performances during the most recent debates, where he repeatedly clashed with Haley and laid out an agenda even further to the right of Trump on certain issues.
In an effort to win over Christian evangelicals, a significant portion of the Republican primary electorate, he has been a fervent supporter of Trump. Despite being Hindu, Ramaswamy has identified as an American nationalist and has been telling voters that “Christian values” and “Judeo-Christian values” are the foundation of the United States.
The majority of his policy stances are extremely conservative. With the exception of rape and incest and cases where the mother’s life is in danger, he opposes affirmative action and is in favour of state-level restrictions on abortion after six weeks. Ramaswamy seeks to eliminate most federal agencies, such as the Department of Education, the FBI, and the Internal Revenue Service, which collects taxes, and drastically increase presidential powers.
In order to put an end to the conflict, he has stated that Kyiv should make concessions to Russia, including letting it keep the areas of Ukraine that it currently occupies. He also opposes Ukraine joining NATO.
Why is Vivek Ramaswamy trending?
Current Lowa Caucuses happening in USA. The Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa hold the Iowa Caucuses every four years. Iowa caucuses are meetings where voters congregate to discuss and choose candidates for their registered party, in contrast to primary elections, where registered voters cast ballots at polling places on election day. Unlike most state-run primaries, the caucuses are held by political parties. In Iowa, caucuses are used for both presidential and midterm elections. In addition to these and other party functions, the caucuses are used to choose delegates to county conventions and party committees.
