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Columbus, Ohio- The Tribune Chronicle editorial board called out Vivek Ramaswamy for his unpopular plan to consolidate Ohio’s colleges and universities and his claims that Ohioans are falling behind after more than a decade of Republican control in the statehouse. 

“Vivek Ramaswamy says Ohioans are falling behind, but completely ignores that his political allies, including his running mate, have had total control of Ohio’s government for well over a decade — using their power to put corporations and the ultrarich first and leaving Ohio families with a massive affordability crisis. Now even Governor DeWine says Ramaswamy’s plan to consolidate Ohio’s iconic colleges and universities is a bad idea,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ohioans are ready for change, not a billionaire who calls us lazy, says Medicaid and Medicare were a mistake, and cooks up toxic new policy proposals from his private jet.”

READ MORE: Is Ramaswamy digging himself a hole in Ohio? 

• Vivek Ramaswamy wants to be Ohio’s governor, but he’s finding that Ohio’s reliably red reputation isn’t giving the Republican much of a bump just yet. In fact, Youngstown native Amy Acton — who once led the Ohio Department of Health under current Gov. Mike DeWine — had a slight edge over Ramaswamy in a recent poll.

• Ramaswamy has jumped on the affordability bandwagon with a commercial featuring his wife Apoorva, who talks of her husband’s plans to ensure that every Ohioan has a fair shot at a better life. But the ad appeared around the same time that Vivek Ramaswamy made comments about how Ohio has too many colleges and universities and could benefit from consolidation.

• Acton and fellow Democrats saw an opportunity after Ramaswamy’s comments and a follow-up op-ed didn’t exactly roll back what he’d said about the state’s colleges and universities.

• On Monday, DeWine made clear where he stands. “I’m not in favor of consolidating our colleges or doing away with any of our 14 public universities,” DeWine said. “It’s important to have them all over the state so frankly, people who can’t afford to live at the college and pay room and board, they can commute. We still have commuters.”

• Even if we give Ramaswamy the benefit of the doubt and presume he was not talking about shutting down some colleges and instead just consolidating leadership positions in an effort to save money, the damage was likely done. Think about how many of us here in the Mahoning Valley either benefited from studies at Youngstown State University or have family and friends who did. Now — if you can imagine it — think of this region without YSU.

• Now think about every part of Ohio and the colleges and universities that enrich thousands of lives across the state and you understand why Ramaswamy has some damage control to do.

• In the commercial, Apoorva Ramaswamy spoke of her husband’s commitment to helping Ohio families, who she said “are working hard, but falling behind.” When you consider how long Ohio has been under virtually exclusive GOP control in Columbus, you wonder if that message is another that won’t land well across the state.

• It seems as though just over a year into his campaign, Vivek Ramaswamy is dealing with two factors he hadn’t planned for — Trump fatigue and some self-inflicted wounds. It’s still early, but Ohio’s presumptive GOP gubernatorial candidate needs to regain his footing.

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Columbus, Ohio- Once again, Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine has rejected a Vivek Ramaswamy campaign proposal. This time, DeWine slammed Ramaswamy’s plan to close Ohio colleges and universities.

READ: Gov. DeWine rejects consolidating Ohio universities, as concerns that could happen circulate

• A video posted on social media by the leading Republican candidate for governor on his ideas to deal with college costs has raised fears that he’d want to shut down some Ohio universities that are struggling with financial issues and lower enrollment. But the Republican who Vivek Ramaswamy is hoping to succeed said that’s a scenario he doesn’t want to see.

• Ramaswamy wrote an op-ed that was published to his website and in Ohio’s Gannett newspapers on Friday, in which he restated the position from the video shared on Threads. In that video from March 13, he said Ohio has too many universities and “they need to be consolidated.” That idea has brought a blast of criticism from his likely Democratic opponent Dr. Amy Acton, as well as officials in communities where those universities are located.

• “I’m not in favor of consolidating our colleges or doing away with any of our 14 public universities,” DeWine said to reporters Monday. “It’s important to have them all over the state so frankly, people who can’t afford to live at the college and pay room and board, they can commute. We still have commuters.”

• DeWine said he’d like to see stronger ties between institutions so students can easily move from community colleges to four-year universities. Ramaswamy wrote in his op-ed he’d want universities with lower enrollment to become so-called “specialized centers of excellence” to cut down on, in his words, bloated bureaucracies and administrative duplication.

• Ramaswamy specifically mentions issues at Cleveland State, the University of Akron, Kent State and Central State, which has raised concerns among some that they could be targeted for closure.

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Columbus, Ohio- The Toledo Blade editorial board called out Vivek Ramaswamy for claiming Ohioans are falling behind in a new ad even as his own party has held total control in Columbus for well over a decade. 

“Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to rewrite the history of how he and his allies stuck Ohio families with a massive affordability crisis – just like he’s trying to rewrite his well-documented calls to defund public schools and public safety and shutter Ohio colleges,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ohioans are ready for change, not a billionaire who calls our workers lazy, said Medicaid and Medicare were a mistake, and moved his business to Texas.”

READ MORE: Editorial: Who should we blame? 

• Apoorva Ramaswamy has shocking news in the opening commercial for her husband Vivek’s campaign for governor: “Ohio families are working hard but falling behind.”

• The ad, though, sends a weird message. Republicans have been in 100 percent control of state government since 2011. If Ohioans are falling behind, how is that not laid at the GOP doorstep?

• Given Republican dominance of state politics since 1991 we’d like to hear much more from Mr. Ramaswamy on who to blame for Ohioans “falling behind” as well as his wife’s concerns about safety and great schools. One would think that after 15 years of leadership, the party in power wouldn’t be saying people are “falling behind.”

• Mr. Ramaswamy has backpedaled away from his claim that Ohio has too many universities and that they should be consolidated to help pay for the tax cuts he says will spark economic revival.

• Whether the state universities are consolidated or just remain under-funded, they are highly likely to continue charging higher tuition than the national average, thus adding to the perception the Ramaswamy campaign commercial identifies as “falling behind.”

• It would behoove Mr. Ramaswamy to explain why we’re still falling behind after all that tax-cutting. He should also explain how eliminating $9.8 billion in income tax revenue will keep us from falling further behind.

• Mr. Ramaswamy began his campaign for governor promising to eliminate property taxes. Pressed to explain where he would cut $30 billion from the state budget, Mr. Ramaswamy changed course on his property tax promises.

• Mr. Ramaswamy’s gauzy TV ad is sure to trigger some doubt among Ohio voters who are well aware of who has had veto-proof control of the government during the period in which they are “falling behind.”

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