OHGov

Columbus, Ohio-  It was another bad week for Vivek Ramaswamy. His past continues to haunt him, whether it’s Epstein dollars or refusing to return donations from known Nazi impersonators. Meanwhile, Ohioans are continuing to see through his plans to gut affordable healthcare and raise prices for working families.

Staying Silent: One week has passed since reporting revealed Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign took $500 from a Nazi reenactor who said that Nazis “accomplished incredible things.” In that time, Ramaswamy has not refunded the contribution or responded to requests for comment.

Vivek Faces MORE Criticism for Medicaid “Mistake”: Today, Ohioans gathered in Toledo to call out Vivek Ramaswamy for calling Medicaid and Medicare a “mistake.” While Ohioans struggle with the sky-high cost of living, Ramaswamy thinks lowering the cost of healthcare for millions of families on Medicaid and Medicare was a “mistake.”

$100K More Problems: Ramaswamy’s past Epstein-related donors continue to haunt his campaign. Earlier this week, reporting revealed his running mate Rob McColley accepted $5000 from Les Wexner, an Epstein co-conspirator. This latest revelation follows reporting that Ramaswamy’s Super PAC closed before returning $100,000 from Glenn Dubin, another billionaire Epstein associate, after promising to do so.

DeWine Tells It Like it Is: Republican Governor Mike DeWine said the quiet part out loud when he admitted Vivek Ramaswamy is more focused on his 2028 presidential campaign than delivering for Ohio’s working families. Ohioans can’t trust Vivek Ramaswamy to lower the sky-high cost of living or stand up for anyone but himself.

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Columbus, Ohio-  At the Politico’s 2026 Governors Summit, when asked if Vivek Ramaswamy wants to be a good governor of Ohio or a national political celebrity, Governor Mike DeWine said “I don’t know. I assume he wants to be both.” 

WATCH THE CLIP HERE

Ramaswamy has focused his attention on the national spotlight throughout his campaign, including op-eds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, numerous appearances on Fox News talking about foreign policy and elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and telling Ohioans they’re just imagining rising costs. His dedication to flying away from Ohio’s working families was so strong he spent more than 10% of his total campaign budget on private jet travel.

“Even his own party leadership knows Vivek Ramaswamy is only running for Governor of Ohio to jumpstart his 2028 presidential campaign,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Vivek Ramaswamy doesn’t care about Ohio’s working families or tackling our affordability crisis and would make the problem worse. Instead, he’s too busy flying over our state in his private jet to listen to the issues facing Ohio.” 

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Ramaswamy super PAC previously received $100K from separate billionaire Epstein associate 

Columbus, Ohio-  As Ohio Republicans continue to face questions about taking campaign cash from associates of Jeffrey Epstein, new reporting reveals Vivek Ramaswamy’s running mate Rob McColley received $5,000 from longtime Epstein patron Les Wexner. McColley has refused to return the money.

McColley’s refusal to return funds from Les Wexner, who is named more than 1,000 times in the Epstein files, follows previous reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential Super PAC never returned a $100,000 contribution from an Epstein associate despite pledging to do so.

“Vivek Ramaswamy and Rob McColley holding onto tainted cash from Epstein associates is yet another reminder that they can’t be trusted to do what’s right for Ohio,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Instead of focusing on lowering costs or protecting health care for Ohio families, Ramaswamy and McColley are flying high in their private jet and giving cover to friends of pedophiles. It’s disgusting.”

READ:

Ohio Statehouse News Bureau: 

• Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), who is governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s running mate, got $5,000 from Wexner in 2024, according to Ohio Secretary of State finance records. When asked Wednesday, McColley said members of his caucus “can make their own decision.”

Cleveland.com:

• Ramaswamy also attracted some negative headlines during his presidential campaign after a billionaire associate of Epstein, New York City-based hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, gave $100,000 to the American Exceptionalism PAC, a pro-Ramaswamy political action committee. 

• American Exceptionalism PAC dissolved late last year without donating or refunding the $100,000 from Dubin.

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Columbus, Ohio – As questions continue to rise around Ohio Republicans’ associations with Jeffrey Epstein and people close to Epstein, Vivek Ramaswamy needs to explain why his allied Super PAC never returned a $100k donation from known Epstein associate Glenn Dubin after pledging to return the contribution.

Glenn Dubin, a billionaire hedge fund manager and close associate of Jeffrey Epstein, donated $100,000 to Ramaswamy’s American Exceptionalism PAC. After Dubin’s associations with Epstein came to light, American Exceptionalism pledged to refund the contribution but folded without doing so.

During Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign, he claimed to be the “first and most vocal proponent of releasing the Epstein list” and said he would release the client list “without exception.” But in his run for governor he has gone silent,” running from reporters, and trying to change the subject while flying around the country in his private jet.

“Instead of focusing on the sky-high cost of living, Vivek Ramaswamy is jetting around Ohio calling workers lazy, saying Medicare and Medicaid a mistake, and giving cover to Epstein associates, said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ohioans can’t trust Vivek Ramaswamy.”

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Columbus, Ohio – New reporting has revealed that Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign accepted a $500 contribution from notorious Nazi reenactor and former Ohio Congressional candidate Richard Iott. Ramaswamy’s campaign has not refunded the contribution.

READ: Vivek Ramaswamy pocketed cash from notorious Nazi reenactor as his Ohio campaign hits the skids

• Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 presidential candidate now running for Ohio governor, is the latest Republican politician who has accepted a campaign donation from a former GOP congressional hopeful who liked to cosplay as a Nazi.

• The Daily Mail has learned that the Ramaswamy campaign accepted a $500 donation on August 15 from Richard Iott using public campaign disclosure data.

• Several attempts to contact Ramaswamy’s campaign on Friday went unreturned. 

• Iott was among the Tea Party-aligned hopefuls to try to enter Congress in the 2010 election, but his campaign was upended when the Atlantic published photographs of him in a 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking uniform. 

• That division was part of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s military in World War II, mostly fighting along the Eastern Front, and assisted in the genocide of Hungarian Jews. At the time, Iott didn’t deny participation in the reenactment group.

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