Culture & People 120

Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?

Vivek Ramaswamy, 41, is an Indian-American biotech entrepreneur, conservative author and Republican politician from Cincinnati, Ohio, who ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, briefly co-led the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk, and is now the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio election.

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Quick facts

Born: August 9, 1985, Cincinnati, Ohio (age 41)
Parents: Immigrated from Kerala, India, in the 1970s; father V. Ganapathy Ramaswamy, mother Geetha Ramaswamy
Heritage: Indian-American; Tamil Brahmin ancestry
Religion: Hinduism
Education: A.B. in Biology, summa cum laude, Harvard University (2007); J.D., Yale Law School (2013)
Spouse: Dr. Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon and professor at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Children: Three sons: Karthik, Arjun, and Savithri
Political party: Republican
Current role: Republican nominee for Governor of Ohio; general election November 3, 2026
Running mate: Robert McColley
Estimated net worth: $2.2 billion (Forbes, 2026)

Their story

Ramaswamy's parents moved to the United States from Kerala, India, in the 1970s. He was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in biology and from Yale University with a law degree. After Harvard, he spent several years as a partner at investment firm QVT Financial, before starting a pharmaceutical company, Roivant Sciences, in 2014 when he was 29. Roivant Sciences is a publicly traded company now worth more than $7 billion. He later co-founded investment firm Strive Asset Management, where he serves as executive chairman.

He first gained notice for his outspoken opposition to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, but his frequent media appearances and unconventional positions helped raise his profile. ESG investing is the practice of rating and selecting companies on environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial returns; Ramaswamy argues it politicizes money management in ways investors never voted for.

In politics

During his presidential campaign, Ramaswamy was viewed as a political outsider celebrated by Republican voters for combative exchanges with legacy media. He announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and threw his support behind Donald Trump, becoming a key campaign surrogate for the president.

Trump announced Ramaswamy would lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Elon Musk. Ramaswamy withdrew from the position on January 20, 2025. DOGE was an advisory initiative aimed at cutting federal spending and reducing the size of government, not a formal Cabinet department.

Ramaswamy exited team DOGE and launched a gubernatorial campaign in Ohio, during a rally in his hometown. He easily won the Republican primary and is set to face Democratic candidate Amy Acton in the general election. The election will determine whether Ohio continues its run of Republican leadership or elects a Democrat for the first time since Ted Strickland in 2006.

Ramaswamy is campaigning on deregulation and conservative education reforms, and has promised to be "the most conservative Governor in Ohio's history." Prediction markets currently place him at 47% to win the Ohio governor's race.

His books

Truths: The Future of America First (2024) — his most recent work, laying out his vision for conservative American policy.
Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence (2022) — argues that victimhood culture is at the heart of American national decline.
Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn't Vote For (2023) — makes the case against ESG-driven investing.
Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam (2021) — his debut, a New York Times bestseller criticizing corporations that pursue political agendas with shareholder money.

Worth knowing

Ramaswamy has been close with Vice President J.D. Vance since they attended Yale Law School together. That friendship has been a visible thread in his rise through Republican politics. He also has an early-stage career note that is rarely mentioned: during his undergraduate years, he co-founded Campus Venture Network, a platform connecting university entrepreneurs.

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Follow-ups

What is the controversial ad he's running against Democratic candidate Amy Acton, and why are people saying it's unethical?Ramaswamy's campaign produced a $4 million attack ad featuring Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar about her own childhood abuse, and the backlash has been swift and bipartisan because court records directly contradict Arthur's claims.

What the ad says

In the ad, Donna Arthur speaks directly to camera and repeatedly calls her daughter a liar. Arthur says, "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy Acton was a serious problem. She is a liar; she lies about her past." She disputes Acton's account of childhood hardship: "She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true."

The video was first published by an Ohio political blogger known as "The Rooster," who told CNN he obtained it from a voter who saw it as part of a poll and recorded it. The video did not include the typical disclaimer about who paid for it. Ramaswamy confirmed to reporters it was "an ad from our campaign." His campaign is now pouring $4 million into airing it, doubling down despite fierce bipartisan backlash.

Why court records tell a different story

An Associated Press review of court records shows that the late Cledith Arthur, Donna Arthur's husband, was arrested and charged with raping Acton, then aged 12, with the abuse allegedly running from 1976 to 1978 and Acton's biological father having reported it to authorities. Acton's younger brother Phil Stearns said their mother lost custody, as she "stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died." Police did find the stepfather living in a tent when Acton was a child, court records show, directly undercutting Arthur's claim that Acton invented the tent story.

In the ad, Donna Arthur does not directly mention Acton's account of abuse, but broadly casts the Democrat as a liar. Acton said her mother was "eventually arrested, the court documents show, from the tent" and that she has not seen her mother since a court appearance when she was 12.

Why people are calling it unethical

Three things together are driving the outrage.

America First, the source. Ramaswamy is gambling that a deeply personal attack by Acton's mother, who Acton has said sided with her stepfather after he sexually assaulted Acton when she was 12, will resonate with voters. Platforming the one person in Acton's life who is documented to have failed to protect her from abuse, and having that person call her a liar about it, is what most critics are calling the central offense.

Second, the facts don't hold. The ad has created mass backlash, including from sexual assault survivors who are blaming Acton's opponent. Court records produced by news outlets contradict Arthur's specific claims, which means the ad doesn't just weaponize childhood trauma, it does so with disputed facts.

Third, the timing. Acton, who has publicly discussed suffering abuse as a child, criticized Ramaswamy for using her family history just two weeks before Election Day.

Acton's spokesperson Addie Bullock said:

"The choice to use, and then stand by, Dr. Acton's estranged and abusive mother who stayed married to her rapist stepfather until the day he died shows Ohioans exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is."

Stearns said in response:

"It's not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point."

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