Ten minutes before Vivek Ramaswamy was to take the stage in a dated casino hotel in western Iowa, no one was in the conference room except for two staffers from the Iowa GOP, which organised the event, and a group of journalists. Guests started trickling in at the time the event was scheduled. By the time Ramaswamy began his remarks an hour later, there were about 60 people. While Ramaswamy is packing his schedule with stops across Iowa, he has failed to move up in the 2024 Republican primary race and is increasingly at risk of becoming an afterthought. He is polling in the mid to high single digits and has left critics asking what his endgame is or if he is staying in the race only to boost former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Ramaswamy is falling behind just as the GOP campaign enters the critical final weeks before the Iowa caucuses on January 15. After an earlier flurry of attention, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and first-time political candidate is gaining more notice for his provocations in debates than for signs that his campaign is resonating with voters. \u201cIf viability were the reason to stay in a race, he\u2019s long since left that behind,\u201d said David Kochel, a Republican strategist who advised Jeb Bush in his 2016 presidential bid. \u201cIf you like Vivek Ramaswamy and what he is saying in this campaign, you already have a candidate, and his name is Donald Trump.\u201d Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are increasingly going after each other as they vie for a distant second place, competing for donors and voters open to a Trump alternative. Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott dropped out after running Iowa-focused campaigns that didn\u2019t gain traction.<\/p>\n
Ramaswamy\u2019s campaign said in early November that it would spend up to USD 8 million in advertising through the Iowa caucuses on January 15. So far, the campaign has booked just USD 162,000 in broadcast and digital ads for the rest of the Iowa campaign, according to data from the media tracking firm AdImpact. Haley and her allied super PAC have reserved nearly USD 3.5 million over that same period, while DeSantis and his allied super PAC have booked more than USD 3.3 million. Tricia McLaughlin, Ramaswamy\u2019s campaign spokeswoman, said that events hosted by the campaign are drawing more people lately, noting that a sizable number of event-goers are not registered as Republicans. \u201cWe are reaching young people,\u201d she said. \u201cThese people are taking the time and effort to come out. These people are not even being polled because they are not your typical caucus-goer.\u201d Ramaswamy has suggested policy ideas that he says carry on Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d legacy without the former president\u2019s baggage.<\/p>\n
At a Florida GOP event earlier this month, Ramaswamy arguably drew the most cheers when his pitch was that he was the Republican candidate who had been most supportive of Trump. \u201cI have respected Donald Trump more than anybody else in this race because he was the best president of the 21st century,\u201d Ramaswamy said. \u201cI said that before, and I will say it again because it\u2019s the right thing to do. We will honour that legacy.\u201d Trump remains dominant, even as he faces four criminal indictments and questions about whether he can beat President Joe Biden after losing to him in 2020. After the October 7 surprise attack on Israel, Ramaswamy has fielded criticism for not being as staunchly pro-Israel as the other GOP candidates. Two days after Hamas\u2019 attack, he suggested the US withhold aid to Israel until its government detailed plans for Gaza. Republican voters align heavily with Israel.<\/p>\n
Voters and strategists critical of Ramaswamy bring up his position on Israel, but also his age and faith. Ramaswamy is Hindu and would be the first non-Christian elected president. Iowa\u2019s Republican voters are mostly white and Christian, with evangelicals carrying huge influence in the caucuses. The gathering in the Council Bluffs hotel kicked off with an opening prayer that ended with \u201cin the name of our saviour Jesus Christ.\u201d The crowd responded with a collective \u201camen.\u201d While he was cheered and applauded for some of his remarks, when he opened up about his religion, he was met with silence. \u201cI\u2019d be the first Hindu president that we had in the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you about my faith. I believe in one true God. I believe that God put each of us here for a purpose, that we have a moral duty to live out that purpose.\u201d Ramaswamy did not take questions from either the audience or reporters. Many people in the audience declined to speak to an Associated Press reporter afterward.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Wilkerson, a 52-year-old voter from Mondamin, Iowa, said most of her friends and family are still supporting Trump like she did over the past seven years, but she is now looking for a change, saying Trump is too old for the White House at 77. She became a Ramaswamy supporter despite those around her feeling apprehensive about his religion. \u201cThey can\u2019t get past the fact that he\u2019s Hindu,\u201d Wilkerson said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not voting based on that. I like his policies, and that\u2019s what I care about in a president.\u201d The next day, Ramaswamy attended a roundtable with Haley and DeSantis hosted by Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa Christian activist. In what was billed as a \u201cfamily discussion\u201d, the three candidates addressed each other by first name and avoided going after each other. Vander Plaats asked each of them faith-related questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s only fair to address what I believe is your highest hurdle from what I\u2019m hearing,\u201d Vander Plaats told Ramaswamy. \u201cWe don\u2019t share the same faith. I\u2019m a Christian. You\u2019re a Hindu, and you centred your campaign on truth. So a question a lot of the caucusgoers have is, what truth?\u201d Ramaswamy said he was grateful for the question. Holding in his lap his 3-year-old son, Karthik, Ramaswamy repeated what he told the room in Council Bluffs, that he believed in one true God and that God \u201cput each of us here for a purpose.\u201d \u201cMy faith teaches me that we have a duty, a moral duty, to realise that purpose, that we\u2019re God\u2019s instruments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe works through us in different ways, but we are still equal because God resides in each of us.\u201d Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist and former top congressional aide, noted Ramaswamy has been trying to build off the momentum built in the first debate, when he grabbed the spotlight introducing himself as a skinny guy with a hard-to-pronounce name. He then declared he was the only person on the stage who wasn\u2019t bought and paid for. \u201cHe\u2019s being aggressive. He\u2019s trying to do all the right things to get noticed, to showcase to voters that he\u2019s a Trump alternative,\u201d Bonjean said, adding his effort is to be seen as a \u201cTrump mini-me. He is excellent at debating other candidates on stage, but he can\u2019t back it up with real-world leadership and government experience,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Lisa Unnerstall, 63, a Republican voter from Fort Myers, Florida, said she likes Ramaswamy and would like to see him serve in Trump\u2019s Cabinet because of his \u201cforward thinking.\u201d But she said her first and second choices are Trump and DeSantis. \u201cI\u2019m concerned with his age,\u201d Unnerstall said of Ramaswamy. \u201cI don\u2019t think that a person necessarily has to be a long-time politician in order to become president. Obviously, I voted for Trump. He was not a politician. So I really think it\u2019s more about life experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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