COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥� Ohio has a contested Republican fast approaching, but there are few signs that the top candidate sees it as a competitive race.
has parlayed his national name recognition, tech industry connections and into a record fundraising haul that he is tapping for advertising spots aimed at the November election. He is using campaign rallies and advertising to criticize his would-be general election opponent, , the state鈥檚 former public health director.
Ramaswamy feels so assured of gliding through the May 5 primary that his campaign has all but ignored his GOP opponent so far.
鈥淚 believe this year we face the single greatest contrast between two candidates in the history of governor’s races in Ohio,鈥� he told Republicans at a recent party fundraising dinner, referencing the general election. 鈥淲e face the most consequential election for governor in the history of our state.鈥�
Nonetheless, the primary season has exposed potential vulnerabilities for the .
Ramaswamy faces within a GOP base disgruntled over the rising cost of living, the of the Jeffrey Epstein files, the burgeoning and the . Ramaswamy is also under criticism for some of his proposals, such as consolidating the state’s university system and to 25. Critics say those ideas suggest the Ivy League-educated biotech billionaire is out of touch with average Ohioans.
The criticism has veered into the personal, surfacing as ethnic and racial animosity toward Ramaswamy, .
If Ramaswamy is the nominee, his supporters worry less that Republicans will switch sides and vote for a Democrat than about the factors that could depress conservative turnout. If enough voters stay home in the fall, Ohio could see its first Democratic governor in 20 years.
鈥淲e have three opponents right now in this race,鈥� Ramaswamy鈥檚 running mate, state Senate President Rob McColley, said in remarks to Republicans in rural Marion County that were shared by WGH Talk. 鈥淲e have Amy Acton, we have the national political environment and then we have complacency. I would argue the third opponent is the most dangerous opponent we possibly have.鈥�
鈥楬e鈥檚 a guy like me鈥�
Discontent among a segment of Ohio鈥檚 conservative voters is being funneled into curiosity about Casey Putsch’s campaign.
An engineer and vehicle designer who calls himself 鈥淭he Car Guy,鈥� Putsch has attracted fans with provocative YouTube videos that troll Ramaswamy and criticize national Republicans over their , positions on energy-guzzling and support for Israel.
His events are sparsely attended and his campaign has raised only $123,000, but Putsch has won over some conservative voters. Tyler Morris, an ambulance manufacturing worker from central Ohio, is among them.
鈥淲hen I hear people like Casey speak, he鈥檚 a guy like me,鈥� Morris, 32, said as he was on his way to see Putsch speak at a Columbus park. 鈥淗e鈥檚 just a guy that got pissed off one day. He鈥檚 not a politician. He鈥檚 like, do you know what — I want to speak for the average, everyday Ohioan.鈥�
Morris said he used to support Trump, but has since soured on him and will not back a candidate endorsed by the president, as Ramaswamy is.
鈥淚 say I鈥檓 politically cynical, because it鈥檚 just like regardless of who I vote for, I feel like as an average Ohioan, it seems like things are just getting worse and worse for everyone,鈥� he said.
A campaign that has exposed racial animosity
Putsch鈥檚 messaging has gone beyond the pitch to make life better for working-class Ohioans. He has been accused of contributing to the spread of ethnic hatred toward Ramaswamy, including repeatedly taking issue with the candidate’s Indian heritage and .
As he was beginning his campaign, Putsch said Ramaswamy had contempt for 鈥淎merican cultural values.鈥� In one online video, he called for Ramaswamy to 鈥渂e destroyed.鈥�
The day after Putsch’s launch, a Ramaswamy opinion piece in The New York Times asked Republicans to reject the far-right, white nationalist element within the Republican Party in favor of a vision of American identity 鈥渂ased on ideals.鈥�
鈥淣o matter your ancestry, if you wait your turn and obtain citizenship, you are every bit as American as a Mayflower descendant as long as you subscribe to the creed of the American founding and the culture that was born of it,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭his is what makes American exceptionalism possible.鈥�
Ramaswamy, who was born and raised in Cincinnati, followed up the column by rebuking racism and antisemitism within Trump’s 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� movement during a speech at Turning Point USA鈥檚 AmericaFest, angering some members of his party.
Amid the fallout from that speech, Ramaswamy鈥檚 social media posts were drawing increasingly ugly and racist reactions. Putsch also has pushed racial epithets, including depicting Ramaswamy as a stink bug he is spraying with insecticide and challenging him to a game of 鈥渃owboys and Indians.鈥�
In January, Ramaswamy announced he was getting off Instagram and the social media site X.
鈥淟eaders who depend on social media to gauge public opinion are looking through a broken mirror,鈥� he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column.
Putsch mocked Ramaswamy for the decision, posting to X that his rival 鈥渃an鈥檛 take the heat.鈥�
National star power, but will it be enough?
The Ohio Republican Party chairman, Alex Triantafilou, dismisses Putsch’s attacks as typical for a primary election.
鈥淭he online right these days, it鈥檚 meaningless to the message of where we are as a party on the ground,鈥� Triantafilou said.
He cited Ramaswamy’s national profile, his and his fundraising prowess 鈥� a record $50 million in total contributions, though roughly half is from Ramaswamy’s own fortune.
鈥淚n every possible category of what we want in a candidate, he has it,鈥� Triantafilou said.
Aaron Baer, president of the Columbus-based Center for Christian Virtue, also rejects Putsch’s disparagement of Ramaswamy’s background, including questioning Ramaswamy’s ability to lead 鈥渁 Christian state.鈥�
鈥淭he bottom line is Vivek Ramaswamy, while he doesn’t share the Christian faith with me and millions of other Ohioans, he very much shares our values,鈥� Baer said.
Ramaswamy has been running what looks like a general election campaign, drawing impressive crowds during visits to each of Ohio鈥檚 88 counties. His strategy appears to be working for voters like Pam Koch, a 70-year-old pharmacy worker who attended a Lincoln Reagan Day dinner where Ramaswamy was the featured speaker.
Koch described herself as a 鈥減ro-life Christian鈥� and said she came to the event 鈥渏ust to see where he stands, you know, spiritually and (on) everything that we value.鈥� Afterward, she said she was delighted with what she heard.
鈥淚 think he lines up with all of our values, so I鈥檓 excited about that,鈥� she said.
Ron Eckles, a retired communications worker, is sticking with Putsch, partly for qualities the candidate shares with Ramaswamy, such as being a native Ohioan and building his own business. But he believes Putsch is stronger on gun rights and likes that Putsch is an Ohio State University alumnus; Ramaswamy attended Harvard and Yale.
Putsch’s stark financial disadvantage in the primary doesn’t bother him.
鈥淚 believe in miracles,鈥� Eckles said.
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