DURHAM, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE: Multi-millionaire entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he’s already poured eight figures of his own money into his 2024 campaign and emphasizes that there’s “no limit” to what he’ll continue to invest into his White House run.
Ramaswamy, a health care and tech sector entrepreneur, best-selling author, conservative commentator, and crusader in the culture wars who declared his candidacy for president in February, is worth roughly $600 million, according to Forbes. And Ramaswamy hasn’t disputed past estimates that he has a net worth of half a billion dollars.
“There’s really no limit to what we’ll put into this campaign,” Ramaswamy said in a Fox News Digital exclusive national interview following a campaign event at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
The 37-year-old first-time candidate noted that “we’ve already made an eight-figure investment in this campaign. Combine that with nearly 30,000 unique donors in just the first 10 weeks… There’s going to have to be a grassroots movement that lifts this up but, given the family sacrifice that we’re already making, there’s no limit to the financial sacrifice that we’ll make as well.”
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Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks with voters in Keene, New Hampshire, on May 3, 2023. (Vivek Ramaswamy campaign)
Pointing to the $500 million that multi-billionaire business and media mogul Mike Bloomberg spent in just four months in his unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Ramaswamy said, “I do think that Michael Bloomberg proved it – you can’t buy elections in this country, which I think is a good thing. The people of this country are too smart for that.”
But he said that his wealth “is going to be something that allows us to compete. I don’t have years of political lists and campaign bases to draw from or existing donors – big donors who are viewing me as their sort of guy. That’s the part that we’re skipping by actually having independent, self-created wealth and frankly that actually gives me some latitude many of those professional politicians don’t have because those donors – especially megadonors – have expectations. I don’t dance to anybody else’s tune, but to voters who we actually serve.”
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Ramaswamy, who’s emphasizing his outsider credentials as he faces a steep uphill climb to win the nomination, has seen his poll numbers tick up from zero to the mid-single digits in some surveys.
“I think it’s going to be a steady climb,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to guests at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-Off on April 22, 2023, in Clive, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Looking ahead to the first GOP presidential primary debate, which Fox News will host in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ramaswamy said, “The first big catalyst is the debate stage… I think that’s something that’s going to be a real catalyst that changes up this race. I’m not going to play with kid gloves. I’m going to take the gloves off.”
Former President Donald Trump, who launched his third straight White House campaign in November and is currently the overwhelming front-runner in the GOP nomination race, has suggested he’ll skip the first couple primary debates.
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“I fully expect to see Donald Trump on that debate stage. It is my expectation that Trump will be there because as I’ve known him, he’s not a man that I know of to be afraid. He’s not somebody who’s made a habit of himself to be a coward,” Ramaswamy said.
But taking a swipe at the former president, he added that if Trump “doesn’t show up on that debate stage I think that will be the best proof that the Donald Trump of today is not the same Donald Trump as in 2015. Because that guy was unafraid, an outsider, showed well on the debate stage. Didn’t hide from a debate.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on April 27, 2023, in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
And he touted that if Trump “doesn’t show up on that debate stage, I think that will be the best proof that I’m the new outsider in this race.”
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Ramaswamy, who’s been busy holding town halls and meeting with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire – the lead-off states in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – added that “the next catalyst is frankly the early states: Iowa and New Hampshire.”
He optimistically predicted, “We plan to do really well in New Hampshire. We’re spending a lot of time here and I think that will really be the catalyst that puts us into the very top of this race.”