The former presidential candidate was a prominent figure in the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
But now the Ohio entrepreneur has parted ways with the initiative because he is officially throwing his hat into the ring for next year's Ohio governor's race.
Ramaswamy, who has been endorsed by President Trump, cannot be involved with DOGE, if he is a partisan political candidate.
Tom Zawistowski is President of the Ohio-based We the People Convention.
“This was something that Vivek had to decide. Am I going to run for Ohio governor? And if I am, I can't be part of DOGE. So, that's what I think happened here.”
Ramaswamy’s looming run may have impacted the choice of Jon Husted as Ohio’s Senate replacement for Trump’s vice president.
“Quite frankly, I think the reason that Jon Husted was named by Gov. Mike DeWine to be the senator to replace JD Vance, is because when Husted and DeWine went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, they were told Vivek's going to run for governor of Ohio and President Trump's going to endorse him."
Conservative radio host and Newsmax host Todd Starnes is less sure about the circumstances of Ramaswamy’s departure from DOGE. Whether voluntary or not, this is the president’s preference, he says.
“I think that the administration has already demonstrated that if the nominee strays from the path, then they will be moved aside. I think we saw that with Vivek Ramaswamy, who was quietly shoved aside. There had been some struggles, inner struggles there in the administration with Ramaswamy, and now he's really on the way out,” Starnes said on American Family Radio’s Jenna Ellis in the Morning Thursday.
Untouchable with Trump?
Regardless of how he finds his way to the Ohio governor’s race, Zawistowski says with Trump’s endorsement no-one will beat Ramaswamy.
"There are people talking about Democrat Sherrod Brown, who we just beat for the Senate, that he might run for governor. If Trump endorses Vivek it's over. He'll be the next governor, and that will be the greatest thing that happened to Ohio in probably the last 100 years."
