In an interview with Sean Hannity, entrepreneur and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said his spotty voting record was because he was “jaded” at a younger age.
“I was a jaded person in my 20s, and like so many people in their 20s, Sean. I get it,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m not a professional politician.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal released earlier this month, Ramaswamy, 38, said he voted for a libertarian presidential candidate in 2004, after which he did not vote in another presidential election until 2020, when he supported then-President Trump.
Ramaswamy has also said he wants to raise the nation’s voting age to 25 but make exceptions for those 18 and older who serve in the military, work as emergency responders or take a naturalization test.
“The United States faces a 25% recruitment deficit in the military and just 16% of Gen Z say they’re proud to be American,” Ramaswamy said in a statement on the matter. “The absence of national pride is a serious threat to our Republic’s survival.”