Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy identified two lessons for fellow Republicans after “we got our asses handed to us” in off-year elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City.
Ramaswamy, a close ally of President Trump and the front-runner for the Republican nomination in next year’s governor’s race, candidly admitted the bad results for his party in a video posted to X late Tuesday night.
“We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City. Democrats swept all three,” Ramaswamy said.
“There’s two key lessons for Republicans. Listen carefully. Number one, our side needs to focus on affordability: Make the American dream affordable, bring down costs — electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs, and lay out how we’re going to do it,” he said.
“And number two, cut out the identity politics. It doesn’t suit Republicans. It’s not for us. That’s the woke left’s game, not ours. We don’t care about the color of your skin or your religion. We care about the content of your character. That’s who we are.”
Ramaswamy offered his take as fellow Republicans reeled, with Trump himself telling GOP senators at a Wednesday morning breakfast that “I don’t think it was good for Republicans.”
Democrats made cost-of-living issues central to their campaigns.
In Virginia, where Trump lost by about 5.78% in last year’s presidential election, Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger won in a blowout by 14.6 percentage points.
In her victory speech, Spanberger vowed rule as a pragmatist to improve affordability, saying she would “cut red tape” to lower housing costs and “produce more energy” to address soaring utility costs, without identifying the sources of power-generation.
In New Jersey, where Trump last year trailed by 5.9%, Democratic Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill led by 13 percentage points with nearly all votes counted.
In New York City, socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani won with just over 50% support, defeating Trump-endorsed former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, at 41.6%, and Republican perennial candidate Curtis Sliwa, at 7.1%.
Mamdani campaigned on opening city-run grocery stores, making buses free for riders and freezing rent.
Ramaswamy, the front-runner for the Republican nomination for governor in Ohio, did not elaborate on his call for Republicans to abandon “identity politics,” but that was a likely reference to Virginia’s nominees.
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, the outgoing lieutenant governor, was widely touted as the possible first black woman to serve as governor, while her running mate, John Reid, would have been one of the first openly gay people elected to a statewide office.
Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and contender for last year’s GOP presidential nomination, would be the country’s first Hindu governor, but that fact is rarely emphasized as part of his campaign.
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