As the new year begins to enter its stride, so starts the running for Ohio’s next governor. With DeWine’s term limited, several new faces have entered the campaign field. Everyone from Ohio Attorney General, Dave Yost, to former director of the Ohio Department of Health, Amy Acton, seems keen on getting a slice of the pie. Perhaps the most notable of these candidates though, is failed presidential candidate and former DOGE-bro, Vivek Ramaswamy.
On Feb. 25, Ramaswamy held two rallies, both at industrial facilities. One occurred in the early afternoon in Butler County, the other later in the evening in New Albany. Both rallies were studded with familiar political faces: From Secretary of State of Ohio Frank LaRose to former director of strategy for British PM David Cameron, Steve Hilton, there was a seemingly endless cavalcade of endorsements for Ramaswamy.
During the New Albany rally, Ramaswamy received what could be the most important endorsement of the night, that of President Trump. On Truth Social, the president posted that Ramaswamy had nothing short of his, “complete and total endorsement.” The move directly slapped fellow Republican contender Dave Yost, potentially crippling his campaign with the lack of such an important endorsement on his behalf.
Some points Ramaswamy seems keen on running on include mental health care reform, education reform, elimination of the income tax, general mass deregulation, and working to oppose continued federal involvement in healthcare.
The first two of these may not sound so bad on paper, but under a little scrutiny, they’re sickening reflections of an utter lack of common sense.
Vivek’s solution for mental healthcare? Rather straightforward. The reestablishment of psychiatric institutions in the state.
“Bring back the psychiatric institutions. Jails shouldn’t be the first line of mental healthcare. This shouldn’t be controversial,” Ramaswamy said on X. It’s incredibly rich coming from the mouth of a man whose time in healthcare is best known for scamming Alzheimer’s patients.
His proposals for fixing Ohioan education aren’t exactly anything beyond the usual surface-level promises either. The same type of rose-tinted campaign points that both sides of the aisle use; his words speak for themselves. “I will be proud to lead Ohio to be the first state in the country to adopt the most common sense reform we could possibly want to revive our public schools by implementing merit-based pay for every teacher, principal, administrator and superintendent of public schools in this state,” Ramaswamy said during a campaign speech in New Albany. “And I mean it when I say this. I’m not looking to pick a fight with the teachers’ unions; I’m not looking to pick a fight with anybody, but I will do whatever, and I mean whatever is required, to stand up for the achievement of our students. We owe that to the next generation.” His continued proposals include bringing back the presidential fitness test, the vague promise of healthier food in cafeterias, and perhaps his crowning jewel of educational proposals: fighting the mental health crisis amongst students, including addressing the “epidemic of depression, anxiety, fentanyl [and] suicide that has festered in our state for too long.”
And on the topic of school safety, Ramaswamy proposed mandating one school resource officer (SRO) per school rather than the current law, which permits individual schools to decide to have one or not, in collaboration with their local police department. “As your next governor, I will ensure that our dedicated base of police officers is used such that one of them is in at least in every one of our schools in this state with the proper training needed to do their jobs,” Ramaswamy said. The proper training part is a bit of a moot point, as SRO officers within the state of Ohio are already mandated to receive 40 hours of training before being approved for the role, alongside requiring approval by the executive of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) to serve in any given role.
The rest of his platform this far? Only serving to revive the nickname given to the GOP during the 1948 election; the party of Grand Old Platitudes. Even his promises towards leading an economic resurgence in Ohio are incredibly empty, especially considering his history of outsourcing and selling to foreign companies.
All of it built on the back of claims that he’ll work to lower and eventually eliminate the income tax, which then begs the obvious question: Where’s the funding for any of the public interest proposals going to come from instead? Will a flat tax take its place? That way even the billionaire pays the same amount of taxes as the janitor or fry cook? That way the hordes of wealth Vivek and friends sit upon can grow only higher and higher while the working person’s cut worsens?
The man is a billionaire entirely out of touch with his state, and the only reason he’ll see any success – beyond Ohio being a deep red state – is because he’s made himself one of the gathering horde of lap dogs that heel at Trump’s every whim.
