ClevelandAccording to a source engaged in the preparations, Vivek Ramaswamy has secured the support of Vice President JD Vance’s senior political advisors to direct his upcoming candidacy for governor of Ohio, as reported by NBC News.
According to this person, who was given anonymity to discuss the specifics of private conversations, the hirings came after Vance and Ramaswamy had been speaking for the past two weeks.
Additionally, the hirings show that Vance’s team, which shares certain similarities with President Donald Trump’s, is totally behind Ramaswamy and that Vance feels comfortable lending him their skills. Just as the government expenditure watchdog initiative was beginning to take shape, Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who has known Vance since their time at Yale Law School, severed ties with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, of the incoming Trump administration last week.
According to the source, Vivek is expected to declare his candidacy in the middle of February.
It’s an early display of Vance’s political strength that helped propel him to the Senate in Ohio, where he and Ramaswamy are from, and, most recently, to the position of vice president.
Ramaswamy’s team will be joined by Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who both had key roles in the tactics of those two campaigns.
Chabria, a veteran Ohio Republican operator, will serve as the general consultant for the campaign. The main political consultant to Donald Trump Jr., Surabian, a veteran of Trump’s past campaigns who worked on Sen. Bernie Moreno’s victorious campaign in Ohio last year, will be in charge of an independent political group that supports Ramaswamy.
Arthur Schwartz, a close associate of Vance and Trump Jr., is also on board, as is Tony Fabrizio, the pollster from Vance’s 2022 Senate race who has worked on Trump’s campaigns. Veterans Chris Grant, Michael Biundo, and Ben Yoho from Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign will also be on his team.
According to the individual involved in the strategy, some of those advisers will work with Surabian at the affiliated outside group, while others will staff the campaign.
Ramaswamy is getting ready for what might be a crowded and tough primary in 2026 to succeed Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who is serving a term restriction.
Last Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced his intention to run for the GOP nomination. He has appointed Trump campaign veteran Justin Clark as a general consultant. Robert Sprague, the state treasurer and another Republican, has declared his intention to run for office shortly.
The only time Ramaswamy’s name was on an Ohio ballot was during the March primary last year, by which point he was no longer a presidential contender, despite having developed a national reputation and connections to Trump. He was paired with Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner who has become a close Trump adviser, for his brief involvement on the DOGE project.
On Inauguration Day, the day Ramaswamy’s resignation was made public, a source familiar with his thoughts told NBC News that he was leaving on good terms with Trump, Elon, and the team.