2024 Presidential Election: Republican Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy
Photo by Gage Skidmore https://flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/52588046111
Ramaswamy attended Harvard, majoring in biology before heading to Yale to obtain his Juris Doctor. He is a first-generation American. Both of his parents immigrated from India.
His politics in college could be described as a contrarian Libertarian. His wealth in college was the exact opposite of the average student. Ramaswamy had interned with a hedge fund and investment bank, taking these experiences and growing his wealth to around $15 million by his graduation from Yale.
He received a fellowship from Paul & Daisy Soros. Ramaswamy created Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company in 2014, that received 100 million in start-up capital from QVT, a hedge fund that Ramaswamy worked at since 2007. His company would purchase rights to drugs that had not been fully developed, then complete the drugs to turn a profit.
Ramaswamy’s wealth comes largely from his stakes in Roivant Sciences. He served on the Ohio Covid-19 Response Team through 2020. Ramaswamy would step down as CEO in 2021 and would establish Strive Asset Management, an “anti-woke” index fund provider. Strive would receive large amounts of funding from conservative investor Peter Thiel and current U.S. Senator J.D. Vance.
Stances
Ramaswamy has run as a MAGA 2.0 candidate. He has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, arguing against Trump’s social media bans and his indict. Ramaswamy has numerous unique positions compared to his counterparts.
He favors raising the voting age to 25 years old, requiring anyone under the age to serve in the military, pass a civic test, or work as a first responder to vote. When it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war, he favors ending aid to Ukraine, excluding Ukraine from NATO, and allowing Russia to keep the occupied regions of Ukraine. In exchange for Russia to end its alliance with China.
Current Campaign
Ramaswamy’s campaign has been one of the best. Currently, in a distance third, from DeSantis, who has been slipping dramatically in the polls, and Trump, the current frontrunner. Current polls have him sitting at 6.2% of the vote. Ramaswamy qualified for the first debate on August 23rd.
