Washington According to two people familiar with his plans, Vivek Ramaswamy is leaving President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and will begin his campaign for governor of Ohio early next week, NBC News reported.
It is not surprising that Ramaswamy wants to run for office in his native state. However, by leaving DOGE, he is no longer in charge of a federal expenditure watchdog organization that he was meant to co-lead with Elon Musk, the wealthy CEO of Tesla and owner of X.
He is departing from DOGE. According to one of the insiders, who was given anonymity to talk about the planning for an unofficially launched campaign, he will make an announcement for governor early next week. Over the past week, it became more and more obvious that operating DOGE and running for governor were incompatible. He is departing amicably with Elon, Trump, and the team.
When Trump is sworn in on Monday, DOGE will be one of his signature initiatives for his second administration. Prior to becoming one of Trump’s most prominent and vocal supporters, Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur who briefly challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination last year, had declared he was putting his Ohio political aspirations on hold in order to assist in spearheading the effort.
Ramasway was withdrawing his consideration for the Ohio Senate seat that Vice President-elect JD Vance had left open at the time. However, Ramaswamyre emerged as a late candidate for that position during the past week, meeting with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who ultimately chose Lt. Gov. Jon Husted for the position.
Husted was regarded as a front-runner to replace fellow Republican DeWine, who was term-limited, but that move swiftly turned the tide of the state’s 2026 gubernatorial contest. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and state Treasurer Robert Sprague, two more GOP politicians with statewide name recognition, were also preparing their own gubernatorial campaigns. Additionally, their preparations were expedited by Ramaswamy’s indications last week that he would be joining them.
Dr. Amy Acton, a doctor who was DeWine’s health director in the early days of COVID, has announced her intention to run for governor on the Democratic side.