Billionaire Vivek Ramawasmy won Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial primary in a landslide Tuesday, two years after his entrance into the political scene as a breakout candidate in the 2024 presidential election against President Donald Trump, who endorsed Ramaswamy in the Ohio race.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Ramaswamy had won more than 86% of votes, well ahead of Republican primary competitor Casey Putsch’s 14% as of 7:45 p.m., shortly after the Associated Press called the race.
Ramaswamy was widely expected to win, with an April poll from YouGov and Bowling Green State University showing 76% of voters said they wanted Ramaswamy to be the GOP nominee, compared to 12% who said they preferred Putsch.
Ramaswamy will compete in the general election against Democrat Amy Acton, who was uncontested in the primary race, to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Ohio has not elected a Democrat as governor since 2006 and the state voted for Trump by 11 points in the 2024 presidential race, but polls show the general election could be close: Ramaswamy has a one-point advantage over Acton in the Bowling Green/YouGov poll.
Ramaswamy’s name recognition and his personal wealth has given the race some national prominence—the billionaire has contributed $25 million of his own money to his campaign.
Acton is the former state health director who became well-known to Ohioans during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she frequently appeared alongside DeWine at press conferences and helped lead the state’s response to the outbreak—a frequent attack line for Ramaswamy’s campaign.
Ramaswamy has raised $30 million from the start of the year through April 15, including $5 million from donors and another $25 million of his own money, NBC affiliate WCMH reported. He’s raised more than $50 million since the start of his campaign in early 2025. Acton has raised $5.2 million so far in 2026 and more than $10.4 million total. The super PAC supporting Ramaswamy’s bid, V-PAC, raised $29.5 million in the first quarter, according to the Ohio Capital Journal, including a $20 million donation from billionaire and Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass.
We estimate Ramaswamy is worth $2.4 billion.
Ramaswamy ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and spent more than $30 million of his own money funding his campaign. He quickly built name recognition for himself, despite being new to the political scene, irking his fellow Republican primary contenders and leading to several high-profile spats during the GOP debates, which Trump famously sat out. He dropped out in January 2024 and endorsed, and frequently campaigned for, Trump. Ramaswamy, 40, is a biotech entrepreneur whose fortune largely stems from the drug-development company he founded, Roivant. He stepped down from the company in 2021 and delved into politics, promoting an “anti-woke” philosophy. His book “Woke, Inc.” criticized the corporate social justice movement and he founded an “anti-woke” asset management firm, Strive, in 2022. The firm was funded by Trump backers and fellow billionaires Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman. Ramaswamy was tapped to co-lead Trump’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk, but he did not take the job, instead deciding to pursue elected office in Ohio.
Democrats are hoping to flip the Ohio Senate seat held by Jon Husted, who was appointed last year to replace Vice President JD Vance. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was unseated in 2024 by Trump-backed Sen. Bernie Moreno but won his primary Tuesday, is running against him. Both the gubernatorial and Senate contests will be widely viewed as a test of Trump’s power in the Republican Party. Husted led Brown by three points in the Bowling Green/YouGov poll.
How Vivek Ramaswamy Became A Billionaire (Forbes)
Ramaswamy Drops Out Of 2024 Presidential Race After Iowa—Here’s Who Could Pick Up His Supporters (Forbes)
‘Second Amendment Absolutist’ Ramaswamy Endorses Gun Ownership For Convicted Felons (Forbes)
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