Just days into his gubernatorial campaign, Vivek Ramaswamy sat down with 3News’ Stacia Naquin to discuss his priorities for Ohio.
CLEVELAND — It’s been a whirlwind of a week for Vivek Ramaswamy.
Two days after officially announcing his plans to join the race for governor in Ohio, involving a 4-city tour that had him crisscrossing the state, he sat down with 3News for a wide-ranging interview.
“I’m not a career politician,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m an entrepreneur who has lived the full arc of the American dream.”
That’s part of the reason he entered the race, with his wife and kids by his side.
“I don’t just want Ohio to be one of the better states in the Midwest,” said Ramaswamy. “I want it to be the best state in the country – to grow and raise a young family and to do it while pursuing a great career.”
He wants his kids, as part of the next generation, to choose to stay in Ohio, based on the job opportunities ahead as the state sees major growth in the technology sector. But, so far, much of that growth as the ‘Silicon Heartland,’ has happened in Central Ohio.
Ramaswamy wants to see Cleveland included in the tech movement.
“My responsibility as governor is not just to increase the GDP of this state,” he said. “We’re going to do that, but more importantly to make sure that it is lifting up all parts of the state – yes from Columbus, but from ‘Over the Rhine’ in Cincinnati, to the inner city of Central Cleveland, to Toledo, to the foothills of Appalachia. My job as a leader is to lead the entire state.”
Ramaswamy believes success is on the horizon for Cleveland, based on the city’s legacy.
“Think about Cleveland’s heritage,” he said. “Cleveland was a steel capital of the world. Think about where Cleveland is positioned. This is a city that is ripe for a revival to, not just lead the state, but to lead our region in an economic revival of a kind that we haven’t seen in nearly a century in this state.”
While Ramaswamy raves about the city of Cleveland and heartily supports the Cavs, it gets a little more complicated when it comes to football for the Cincinnati native and lifelong Bengals fan.
“When it’s the Bengals and the Browns, I’m not going to compromise on my childhood allegiance there,” he says with a laugh, describing himself as a ‘Bengals guy through and through.’
Ramaswamy is watching closely as the discussion about the Browns stadium future unfolds – how and where to move it and how to pay for it, including the proposal from Gov. Mike DeWine to use an increase in the sports betting tax.
“This issue is going to be resolved one way or another before I’m the governor,” said Ramaswamy, while acknowledging that other stadium issues will surely arise in the future. “How do you slash and burn the regulatory burden and bring down the tax burden for every Ohioan? That’s how you spawn lasting economic growth, and in my view and my experience, if we’re able to deliver that, the rest of it takes care of itself.”
There are many issues Ramaswamy is excited to tackle, including what he calls a “worker shortage” that he sees throughout the state.
“We should make sure that we reattach work requirements to Medicaid and other forms of welfare payments,” said Ramaswamy. “The truth of the matter is, that’s not compassion. It’s cruelty to increase somebody’s dependency on the government, but it also helps solve our worker shortage problem.”
He also sees the property tax burden as a matter of importance to all Ohioans, no matter their political party.
“So many Ohioans now are paying as much in principle repayment as they are on their property taxes, which is too much of a burden because even the land you thought you owned starts to feel a lot like it’s just a lease from the government,” said Ramaswamy. “That’s un-American and I think it’s against the principles that Ohio was founded on as well.”
When it comes to education in Ohio, he wants to implement ‘school choice,’ but that’s not all.
“We’re going to implement merit-based pay for every teacher, principal and administrator,” said Ramaswamy. “And let me be clear – that means the best teachers in this state will be paid a lot more than they are right now, so we can recruit the very best and teach our kids how to do math and reading and writing and English proficiency at an internationally competitive standard. We’re not there now, but we will be.”
He also intends to emphasize physical education at a young age, get cell phones out of the classroom and require more robust civic education.
“Every high school senior who graduates from high school is able to pass, and on my watch will HAVE to pass, the same civics test required of every legal immigrant before they become a naturalized citizen,” explained Ramaswamy.
It’s part of his vision for a ‘State of Excellence,’ as his campaign slogan states.
“The path to success is plural in this state – the path where every kid, regardless of their gifts, has a path to the American dream and success in Ohio,” he says.
It is still early in Ohio’s gubernatorial race, with the Republican primary more than 430 days away. Ramaswamy has big plans to visit all 88 counties of Ohio. He says traveling to each corner of the state is part of what he’s looking forward to in this race and beyond.
“I think the diversity of backgrounds, experiences and even opinions in our state is a beautiful thing,” he said. “That’s one of the things that makes Ohio distinct, makes us special makes us unique and even, I say this only half joking, we have four distinct seasons. That’s different from Florida. That’s different from Texas and so the way we’re going to lead Ohio to be the top state in the country isn’t by pretending to be one of those states or pretending to be anybody else, but by being the best version of ourselves right here.”