GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Surging in the Polls

By Virginia Drye
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT, N.H. — GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy brought his campaign to Sullivan County on Thursday. The timing of his trip coincided with his recent surge in the polls, indicating that he may be emerging from the field as a principal challenger to former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

The campaign visit started with an appearance at Camp Constitution in Plainfield, where Ramaswamy, the son of immigrants from India, held a class on “Living the American Dream.” He then came to Claremont, where he met with organizations and individuals involved with the fentanyl crisis that’s gripped our region, state and nation.

The stop in Plainfield was for attendees of Camp Constitution and the event in Claremont was by invitation only and closed to the public and the press to ensure people could speak freely with Ramaswamy about the realities of this scourge and avoid politicizing the issue.

Following the event in Claremont, the Eagle Times was granted an exclusive interview with Ramaswamy, who was eager to share his thoughts on issues that affect us both locally and as Americans.

From the outset, Ramaswamy was impressed with New Hampshire.

“People in this state have a civic pride and commitment that is probably unparalleled anywhere that I’ve been in the country,” he said. “You see that in these events that people will attend, that the questions they will ask are so well informed in a way that makes me an evangelist for the first-in-the-nation primary status here. I think it needs to be that way, not just because I like people in New Hampshire, and I do, but that’s not the reason why. It’s for the country, where you have citizens who have heightened civic engagement actually be the ones who are playing the role of whittling down the presidential field.

“You don’t pick the president, but you filter it for who the rest of the country can pick. There’s no social media algorithm between us. There is no TV screen between us. It’s real. It’s true. So, I appreciate it.”

Ramaswamy said the plight of rural America was one he understood and would address as President.

“Getting the federal government out of the way of small towns is essential for them to look after themselves. Think about the shackling regulations from three letter government agencies, the EPA among them, affecting the way that even buildings are constructed in small towns. It’s a big impediment,” he said. “The deregulation of the administrative state is a top priority.”

About the uptick of crime across the country, Ramaswamy focused on two issues.

“I do not think the federal government should be subsidizing localities that limit the ability of police officers to carry out their job,” he said. “I am a solid defender of qualified immunity, which I know is an issue in this state, which is an issue in so many other states, to make sure cops are able to do their jobs, without having to be constrained in their ability to keep their community safe.”

While ensuring police could do their job without fear of lawsuits, Ramaswamy also took aim at the failure of the country to control its borders.

“Sealing the southern border is important because that is the entry way for a lot of the drugs, including fentanyl. They find their way into cities and communities across this country. These are the kind of things I’ll be able to do as president.”

Ramaswamy was aware of the recent flooding that has impacted our area. While he believed there is a role for the federal government to play in helping communities recover from natural disasters, he was critical of the regulations that came with infrastructure improvements and the nation’s spending priorities.

“We are more concerned in our expenditures in improving infrastructure halfway around the world than we are right here at home. $200 billion in directed aid to Ukraine to build up infrastructure there. That would be better utilized in revitalizing our own backbone here, in our own country. I think we ought to be careful to do that in a way that doesn’t infect small towns with the cancer of the federal bureaucracy, which I think is a bit of what’s happened under the current administration.”

With Claremont in the midst of yet another lawsuit over education funding, we asked Ramaswamy about what his education priorities would be as President. He took the opportunity to unveil two major proposals.

“One of the things I said is that I would abolish the U.S. Department of Education and use those savings to close the gap in the underfunding that stopped school choice programs from actually being able to realize their potential.”

He went on to explain that, while some existing Education Department personnel and programs would be reassigned to other departments in the federal government, eliminating the department would free up almost half of its budget, he said. He would send those savings to the states and to parents.

“Once parents have that money at their disposal, they could really hold public schools accountable through choice and competition… Schools that generally spend more per student, on a per student basis, often have poorer results than the schools that actually spend less on a per student basis. So, if parents choose to leave [their local public school] … half the difference between those two schools — on a per student basis — should travel with the student into an account that student has.

“Say a school spending…$30,000 a year and a different school is spending $15,000 a year. $7,500 would travel to the student. You do the math on that. That could be a $200,000 graduation gift by the time the student graduates from high school. That’s economic power. That’s arbitrage. That’s our mentality when I was in my old business days; that we would look at this, starve that bureaucracy and put the money in the pocket of the shareholders, [this is a] dividend to the parents.”

For small town America, Ramaswamy said one of the biggest issues is economic stagnation.

“The fact that we are no longer growing at a high GDP growth rate, I think is manifesting itself in a lot of ways: inflation, also supply chain shortages. Economic challenges are, I think, some of the major obstacles to small towns thriving in this country and I think a big part of that starts with failures at the level of federal government and the regulatory state.”

Ramaswamy was asked what made his campaign different from the others seeking the GOP nomination for President in 2024.

“We’re running to something. The rest of the field is running from something. We’re running to something. That’s the answer,” he said.

“That connects to New Hampshire voters?” we asked.

“Absolutely, it does,” he responded.