Vivek Ramaswamy brought his gubernatorial campaign back to where it started for him: Evendale Elementary, the school he attended as a kid.
The Republican candidate for Ohio governor and his wife, Apoorva, sat for a personal interview at the school on Sept. 8, with WCPO reporter Tanya O'Rourke. Ramaswamy grew up in Evendale, was valedictorian at St. Xavier High School and said his parents still live in the village.
The WCPO crew tagged along as Ramaswamy took his two sons, ages 6 and 4, for haircuts at the same barbershop where he got his hair cut throughout childhood.
Ramaswamy, a businessman who entered national politics with a 2023 presidential run, told O'Rourke that civic ambition was on his mind early.
"Not definitely the politics per se, but the idea of having an impact, a civic impact on our country was absolutely on my mind," Ramaswamy said.
Family and motivations
The couple met at a party in graduate school. He was in his second year of law school and she was starting medical school. They have been married 11 years and have three children: two boys, ages 6 and 4, and a 6-month-old daughter.
Apoorva Ramaswamy, a surgeon at The James at Ohio State University, said education and healthcare costs drove her support for his campaign. She told WCPO that children's education and patients' ability to pay for healthcare and food are the biggest problems she hopes he will address as governor.
The race ahead
Ramaswamy faces Democrat Amy Acton in the Nov. 3 general election. He has campaigned on lower property taxes, a phased end to the state income tax and tighter controls on Medicaid spending, Newsweek reported. A Fox News poll conducted Aug. 6-10 among 1,008 registered voters showed Ramaswamy ahead 50 percent to 48 percent, within the margin of error. Prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi both showed Acton is ahead as of late August.
In a March appearance on WOSU's Snollygoster podcast, Ramaswamy put his property-tax stance bluntly: "We need to bring down property taxes in this state immediately, eventually down to zero."
His parents still live in Evendale. The general election is Nov. 3.
