Sen. Ramaswamy? Vivek emerges as dark horse successor to Vance

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy disappeared from social media in recent weeks, amid reports that he could fill Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate seat. The reports come as something of a reversal as he previously removed himself from consideration for the post after Trump put him in charge of a planned new department.

Originally named the co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Ramaswamy was set to prioritize sweeping cuts to government spending alongside co-chair Elon Musk. The pair spoke boldly about finding $2 trillion in waste to help the country balance the budget and drastically reduce the size of the federal government.

But Ramaswamy fell off the grid in the wake of a contentious and public debate between incoming Trump administration figures over the H-1B visa program. Ramaswamy’s defense of the program and comments about the way Americans raised their children drew intense backlash from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party and led to pronouncements that he had killed his political future.

A different route

But mounting reports suggest that he may find a viable escape route through the upper chamber and that Trump himself had privately urged him to accept the post. Should he do so, he may not be able to work with Musk at DOGE.

Politico reported this week that Ramaswamy had met with Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, to discuss the prospect of him replacing Vance. The Ohio-based Republican is one of the state’s most high-profile politicians not currently in office and has attracted speculation over a possible gubernatorial run as well.

Ramaswamy gained traction in the Republican primary, however, primarily as an advocate for reforming American foreign policy in favor of a more reserved approach. During that contest, he regularly traded barbs with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and railed against the party’s neoconservative wing. He also developed a reputation as conservative firebrand on an array of domestic issues.

DeWine, for his part, is widely regarded as a moderate and establishment Republican, making Ramaswamy an unexpected choice to succeed Vance. But the prospect of a Ramaswamy gubernatorial campaign evidently has the governor mulling a Senate appointment, to clear the way for Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, to take over DeWine’s post.

“DeWine isn’t incentivized to pick Ramaswamy for Senate, but Vivek is also the one roadblock to Husted,” one source told Politico. Trump has not discussed the matter publicly but has reportedly encouraged Ramaswamy behind closed doors to accept the position, largely due to a consensus among Musk, the president-elect, and Ramaswamy himself that DOGE will need a stalwart advocate in the Senate.

Enmity with immigration hawks

Ramaswamy would also fill a void left by Vance as a stalwart voice against hawkish interventionism amid the largely neoconservative upper chamber GOP. While an appointment from the governor would not put Ramaswamy before the state’s electorate for two years, his arrival in the Senate may not be well-received by some members of the chamber or Trump’s base.

The tech mogul’s campaign saw him spar repeatedly with the establishment GOP, going so far as to use his opening remarks in a primary debate to call on then-RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to step down. Should he emulate Vance on foreign policy, moreover, he is likely to become a thorn in the side of hawkish leadership like his predecessor. 

His comments on the H-1B debate, moreover, are likely to make him less than palatable to some immigration hawks and MAGA stalwarts. Ramaswamy weighed in weeks ago in support of the visa program, contending that employers needed to look abroad for qualified manpower due to an American culture that he said valued “mediocrity over excellence.”

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer),” Ramaswamy said. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”

Ramaswamy’s initial X post was widely shared online and attracted tens of thousands of comments, largely negative, and accusing him of solely looking to defend the importation of cheap labor. Trump himself spoke in defense of the H-1B visa, calling it a “great program,” but his own remarks have not quelled the anger of his base over Ramaswamy’s comments.

Just the News sought comment from the office of Gov. DeWine and the Trump transition team, but did not receive a response by press time.