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In this week’s edition of our Palmetto Political Stock Index, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy earned plaudits on the heels of another well-received visit to early voting South Carolina. Ramaswamy received a standing ovation from the GOP faithful who attended the Richland County Republican Party convention on Thursday evening – building on the positive buzz he has generated in the Palmetto State since jumping into the 2024 presidential race as a decided long shot a little over two months ago.
The Columbus-based businessman – who bills himself as the chief executive officer of “anti-woke” America – has been burnishing his ‘America First’ bona fides with Palmetto State voters this week, preaching a gospel of economic renewal and open rebellion against the “psychological slavery” of our nation’s “woke industrial complex.”
Educated at Harvard (summa cum laude undergraduate) and Yale (law school), the 37-year-old businessman and investor – who reportedly has a net worth north of $630 million – clearly doesn’t enjoy near the same name identification or institutional backing as the top tier GOP candidates. But as our index observed, he is “not lacking in gravitas – or the ability to convey a resounding message to the Republican faithful.” Which means he could wind up being a force to be reckoned with in upcoming GOP presidential debates.
And with a nine figure net worth at his disposal … Ramaswamy can buy his way into the top tier if he decides to do so.
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I sat down with Ramaswamy during his latest campaign swing through this pivotal “First in the South” state – and came away impressed by what I heard. Look for that interview to air on Monday.
In the meantime, his campaign team rolled out its first round of endorsements this week – including nods from state representatives Joe Bustos of Mount Pleasant and Matt Leber of Johns Island. In addition to receiving the imprimaturs of these two Lowcountry lawmakers, Ramaswamy also received multiple endorsements from local elected officials in the Midlands and Pee Dee regions of the state.
Obviously, Ramaswamy isn’t collecting the sort of big-name backing that candidates like former U.S. president Donald Trump – the runaway GOP frontrunner – have amassed. At least not yet.
But that could change the more people learn about him and his candidacy …
“I like a lot of what I hear from him,” one undecided South Carolina voter tweeted this week. “Very interested in learning more. We need more intelligent people willing to get involved in the broken world of politics.”
Again, be on the lookout for our conversation with Ramaswamy early next week …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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5 comments
A possible advertising client for you; right, FITS?
I got plenty of spam texts for Vivek’s campaign this weekend, so…
My wife and I had the distinct pleasure of hearing and then meeting Vivek Ramaswamy today in Spartanburg. He spoke in the parking lot of Carolina Pregnancy Center, a crisis pregnancy facility. If anyone thought this was going to be another tired, cliched political stump they were quickly persuaded otherwise by the wry but sincere manner of Ramaswamy. He spoke of the need for a healing of the numerous wounds of our nation, not phrased in a manner calling for a political answers but rather for mobilizing people over politics. Later, he fielded a variety of questions from attendees with specific, non-typical answers. The dude’s not a politician and is not necessarily beholden to the silly party directives.
Frankly as a senior American, I’m done with same old politico $hit from both parties telling us they have all the answers while they pour more gas in the flaming dumpster that is our country. I’ll give serious consideration to Vivek as his campaign continues.
ChatGPT getting good at writing these comments.
The only party that claims to have all the answers is the party of Trump. But tell me, how is the economy a dumpster fire? Unemployment is at record lows, and the annual deficit is down from when Trump left office. The only reason we are running deficits is that Trumpublicans gave billions of dollars to billionaires and giant Corporations when they were already earning record profits and needed no further incentive to invest.