Indian American Vivek Ramaswamy won the Ohio primary for Governor by a huge margin, leaving his fellow Republican Casey Putsch biting the dust.
Ramaswamy, who was endorsed by President Trump, won the May 5 Republican primary with 82.1 percent of the vote, and Putsch secured 17.9 percent, Ballotpedia reported. At least 3 other Republicans who had registered as candidates for the Gubernatorial race, withdrew their candidacy.
On winning the primary, Ramaswamy released the following statement – “I know the American Dream exists because I’ve lived it right here, in the state where I was born and raised. We’re going to revive that American Dream in Ohio once again — with lower costs, bigger paychecks, and better schools for all Ohioans. I am grateful to everyone who helped us win today’s election by historic margins, and I look forward to a decisive victory again in November.”
President Trump’s endorsement of the Indian American candidate early on, was decisive for Ramaswamy.
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Top GOP leaders like Vice President J.D. Vance, and assassinated young Republican Charlie Kirk, as well as Senators from Ohio and other states were behind his race. He also won the support of unions like the Ohio Conference of Teamsters, Ohio State Association of Plumbes and Pipefitters, Affiliated Construction Trades, and Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters. In addition farmers’ organization – Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association and the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association lined up in his favor.
Since he declared his candidacy in February 2025 after a short stint as co-director with Elon Musk, of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) department, Ramaswamy has championed President Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda. But he has also pitched himself as a leader of a new generation
A serial entrepreneur, Ramaswamy, who ran for President against Trump, and was recruited to his inner circle after the 2024 elections, will go to the November 3 general election along with Robert McColley his Lieutenant Governor. In Ohio, the two offices are on the same ballot.
Cook Political Report rates the Ohio Governor’s race “Likely Republican” in a March 19, 2026 update. In an April 27 assessment in its ‘Partisan Voting Index’ the Cook Political Report gave Republicans a +5 advantage, based on President Trump’s performance.
Ramaswamy may emerge the winner November 3 against his Democratic opponent Amy Acton, a physician and professor, who has served as the director of Project L.O.V.E. and was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican to serve as director of the Ohio Department of Public Health in 2019.
The 40-year old Indian American candidate is married to Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon at Ohio State, and the couple has two sons.
Ramaswamy ran an energetic campaign even before the primary, visiting all of Ohio’s 88 counties, he noted on his campaign website.
Born in Cincinnati and raised in Ohio, Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy, son of Vivek Ganapathy and Geetha Ramaswamy, has spoken frankly of his Hindu faith, and has spoken out against “wokeness”.
He attended Harvard University to study biology and then Yale University to get a law degree. He went on to work for a hedge fund and started a pharmaceutical company, Roivant Sciences, a biotechnology pharmaceutical company in 2014 when he was 29 years old. Other companies he started include Strive Asset Management and Sio Gene Therapies.
If Ramaswamy wins in November, he will be the 3rd Indian American governor in the history of the nation, following in the footsteps of two former Republican Governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.