Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he would turn down an offer of the vice presidency if he doesn’t win the GOP presidential nomination for 2024.
“I’m not interested in a different position in the government,” he said in a Fox News interview Saturday. “Frankly, I’d drive change through the private sector sooner than becoming a number 2 or a number 3 in the federal government.”
“Donald Trump and I share something in common and that is that neither of us would do well in a number 2 position,” he added.
The remarks echo other candidates, like former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has also stated no interest in being the second-in-command.
“I think everybody that says, ‘She’s doing this to be vice president,’ needs to understand I don’t run for second,” Haley said this week.
The Ohio businessman has shot up in the polls since entering the field as a political unknown. He has placed second in some state polls and is third among a crowded group of candidates according to national polling averages.
He has even drawn shots from rival candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) whose super PAC debate prep memo said the Florida governor should take a “sledgehammer” to Ramaswamy from the stage at the first GOP debate next week.
Ramaswamy, however, said the GOP candidates have been too focused on attacking each other and on attacking Democrats, and should instead prioritize communicating a consistent party platform and idea.
“I think we have to as a party stop talking less about the who, and more about the what and the why. What do we stand for and why do we stand for it,” he said. “Even with respect to criticizing Biden and the left, I depart from the Republican Party on this. I don’t think that’s the winning strategy.”
“I’m bored of talking about Joe Biden. I think the American people are too. That’s why the 2022 so-called ‘Red Wave’ never came. It’s not going to be good enough to criticize even Biden. We have to offer an agenda and an affirmative vision of our own,” he continued.
Ramaswamy, the youngest candidate in the field, has attempted to leverage that youth and status as an outsider to attract younger voters. Republican messaging needs to change, he said.
“If we resort back to talking points from the Republican Party that make us sound like a bunch of partisan hacks, I think we’re going to have the same disappointing result in 2024 that we did in 2022,” he said.