Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate who briefly aided President Trump’s cost-cutting efforts, is expected to announce his candidacy for governor of Ohio on Monday afternoon in Cincinnati, his hometown.
He signaled his intention to run for the office late last month, after an early exit from the Department of Government Efficiency task force, which he was initially tapped to lead alongside Elon Musk.
Mr. Ramaswamy, 39, who rose to prominence as a conservative critic of liberal corporate governance, was a long-shot but high-profile candidate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. He dropped out of the race after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly rebranded himself as a tireless booster of Mr. Trump and his agenda.
His service as a Trump surrogate fueled speculation that he would be considered for a post in Mr. Trump’s cabinet. But after complaints from people close to Mr. Trump and tension with Mr. Musk, his exit from the task force was announced the day Mr. Trump took office.
Despite his rocky and brief tenure in Trump’s orbit, Mr. Ramaswamy has cast his ambitions for Ohio as complementary to Mr. Trump’s project of overhauling the federal government. He told The Wall Street Journal this month that he hopes to “shred the regulatory barriers to new business creation” and place Ohio on the “bleeding edge of a new kind of industrial revolution.”
Dave Yost, Ohio’s attorney general, declared his own candidacy for the governorship last month, and, like Mr. Ramaswamy, is vying for Mr. Trump’s endorsement. Mr. Yost and his team visited Washington earlier this month and met with members of Mr. Trump’s White House team, but they did not meet the president himself, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Robert Sprague, the state treasurer, had filed paperwork to run for governor as well, but dropped his bid and endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy this month. Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Republican secretary of state, has also endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy.
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