OHGov

Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from Politico’s Influence newsletter revealed that Vivek Ramaswamy’s company spent more than $70,000 lobbying the federal government for the development and approval of COVID-19 drugs. Federal lobbying records show Ramaswamy’s company spent approximately $50,000 lobbying the National Institutes of Health and the Executive Office of the President as well as approximately $20,000 lobbying Congress.

This new reporting from Politico follows bombshell reporting from the Associated Press that revealed Ramaswamy pushed for a national COVID-19 registry to segregate Americans based on immunity status. Ramaswamy’s company profited over $2.2 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine. He served on Ohio’s COVID-19 response team, then paid a Wikipedia editor to scrub his involvement. 

“Scam artist Vivek Ramaswamy has given Ohioans yet another reason to not believe a word he says,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “His extreme proposal to ‘segregate’ Americans based on immunity status, his billions in profit from the COVID-19 vaccine, and now his massive investment in lobbying the federal government are all more proof that the only person Vivek Ramaswamy is looking out for is Vivek Ramaswamy.”

READ: FIRST IN PI — RAMASWAMY’S COVID LOBBYING:

• A biotech company founded by Vivek Ramaswamy spent more than $70,000 in 2020 and 2021 to lobby the federal government for the development and approval of COVID-19 drugs, Jacob reports.

• Acton’s campaign says Ramaswamy’s rhetoric contradicts his actions as a biotech executive at the time. Democrats have also criticized another one of Ramaswamy’s companies that pushed for a national COVID registry that would have segregated Americans based on COVID-19 vaccine status during the pandemic. Ramaswamy also reportedly paid to have his role on the state’s COVID response team scrubbed from his Wikipedia page.

• Ramaswamy’s campaign and Roivant didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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“The bill stalled because Senate President Rob McColley gave in to that sentiment”

Columbus, Ohio- Reporting from WKRC Local 12 revealed Vivek Ramaswamy’s running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, held up a vote on a ban on child marriage in Ohio. 

Republican State Senator Bill Blessing, a member of McColley’s own party, said the bill stalled because McColley “gave in” to arguments against the bill. Previously, McColley told the Columbus Dispatch that banning child marriage required “further exploration.”

McColley obstructing a ban on child marriage is the latest in a disturbing pattern from Ramaswamy and members of his team. During Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign, he claimed to be the “first and most vocal proponent of releasing all Epstein related documents” and said he would release the client list “without exception.” Ramaswamy also proudly touted endorsements from two state lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct and then scrambled to scrub his campaign website after the fact. One of the endorsements was added back to Ramaswamy’s website within hours of removal.  

“No wonder Ohio families don’t trust Vivek Ramaswamy; his running mate and current President of the Ohio Senate is busy stalling a ban on child marriage and saying this is an issue that requires ‘further exploration,’ while Ramaswamy himself accepts endorsements from politicians accused of being sexual predators and refuses to return a $100,000 donation from an Epstein associate,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Vivek Ramaswamy won’t keep Ohio’s children safe.”

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Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from TiffinOhio.net uncovered how Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign continued paying his security firm even after his personal bodyguard was arrested with enough fentanyl to kill 132,000 Ohioans.

READ: Ramaswamy kept paying security firm after bodyguard arrested with enough fentanyl to kill 132,000 Ohioans

• Campaign finance records filed with the Ohio Secretary of State show Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign paid $14,000 to its contracted security firm in the weeks after the firm’s employee — Ramaswamy’s personal family bodyguard — was arrested on federal fentanyl trafficking charges. The final payment came four days after the campaign publicly announced it was dropping the firm.

• According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, one kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people. Applied to the 264 grams recovered at Salsburey’s home, that ratio yields an estimated potential death toll of approximately 132,000 — a figure the DEA itself uses as a benchmark for seized quantities of the drug.

• Despite the arrest, the Ramaswamy campaign continued paying ARK Protection Group. According to Ohio Secretary of State campaign finance records, the campaign paid ARK $12,000 on Jan. 8, 2026 — 9 days after the arrest and the same day the story became widely reported. The campaign had paid ARK a total of approximately $61,971 since April 2025 prior to that payment.

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Columbus, Ohio- The Cleveland Cavaliers had a disappointing week as their season came to an end, but so did Vivek Ramaswamy. He had another terrible week with visits from politicians who helped cause hundreds of thousands of Ohioans to lose healthcare, a brutal rejection from his favorite basketball team, and was named the “most unlikeable” candidate for governor in recent memory.

“Most Unlikeable”: A new piece by Cleveland.com’s Brent Larkin named Ramaswamy the “most unlikeable” candidate for governor in recent memory. Larkin wrote that Ramaswamy is such a weak candidate that he threatens to “take down the entire ticket” when Ohioans reject his extreme scams in November. 

Medicaid & Medicare Were “Mistakes” Caucus Meeting: This week, Ramaswamy welcomed the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services Administrator Dr. Oz to his home. Under Oz’s tenure, over 300,000 Ohioans could lose access to Medicaid and Ohioans everywhere have seen their healthcare costs skyrocket. Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy has continued to dodge responsibility for calling Medicaid and Medicare “mistakes.” 

Locker Room Low: Vivek Ramaswamy was ridiculed online after attempting to get into the Knicks locker room to welcome his fellow New Yorkers to Ohio. He was quickly turned away by security, but has once again gained national attention for exactly the wrong move on the court and on social media. We’ll be keeping a close eye out for him courtside at Knicks games this fall- just a short private jet ride away! 

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Columbus, Ohio- New York billionaire scammer Vivek Ramaswamy crashed out online after reporting claimed the New York Knicks rejected his attempt to enter their locker room following their win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ramaswamy’s rant is a dramatic change of tune from his Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this year where he announced his departure from social media.

Donation records list Ramaswamy as a New York resident as recently as 2019. 

His company Roivant Sciences still has an office in New York, where the CEO and Executive Office are based.

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s week has yet again been dominated by another embarrassing misstep for a candidate who can’t open his mouth without revealing how little he thinks of Ohio,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ramaswamy’s most humiliating meltdown to date is unfortunately par for the course for a candidate who can’t stop lying to Ohioans, thinks our workers are lazy, and says Ohio is ‘not the best’ state.”

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