Ahead of a four-day campaign swing this weekend through the Hawkeye State, Ohio businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is announcing the first phase of his Iowa leadership team.
The lineup includes some political heavy hitters, including the former president of the Iowa State Senate.
“We are building an experienced, aggressive team in the Hawkeye state,” Vivek 2024 CEO Ben Yoho said in a statement. “Vivek is taking America First further than anyone has before, and we have the key players in Iowa that will set the tone of the election and deliver the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America.”
Ramaswamy’s Iowa leadership team includes:
Jake Chapman — Former President of the Iowa Senate and current CEO of Intralux Consulting. Chapman served as Iowa co-chair for the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who won Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses that year. Over his 10-year career in the Iowa Senate, Chapman performed key leadership roles as chairman of the Commerce Committee, chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, and as President of the State Senate.
Kimberly Gleason — Served as policy advisor to the Iowa Senate President and has nearly two decades of experience in policy, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
Gavin Humble — An alumnus of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin campaigns. Most recently, he served as political director for Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick. McCormick, a well-funded former hedge fund CEO, narrowly lost the Senate primary in 2022 and taking steps to prepare for a possible 2024 Senate campaign, according to German-owned Politico. Humble has nearly a decade of experience running some of the most competitive statewide and national races in the country.
Ramaswamy has effectively made Iowa a second home in his pursuit of the Republican Party presidential nomination. He’s back in the Hawkeye State on Friday, beginning a four-day bus tour packed with events.
The political outsider’s third trip to Iowa since announcing his campaign in February opens Friday evening at the Jackson County Republican Central Committee Spring Dinner in Maquoketa and wraps up Monday afternoon with a radio appearance on WHO’s Simon Conway Show.
Ramaswamy will join several declared and presumptive presidential candidates Saturday evening at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition: Road to Victory conference in Clive.
As The Iowa Star first reported last week, former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner thus far in the race for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, will address the event remotely at 8 p.m. Potential and declared candidates confirmed to speak earlier in the evening include: former Vice President Mike Pence, Ramaswamy; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC).
At 37, Ramaswamy is the youngest candidate in the GOP presidential nomination chase. The author and anti-woke crusader comes to Iowa after making headlines for suing the World Economic Forum and following a fierce debate with CNN leftist host Don Lemon. Ramaswamy, a second-generation Indian-American, challenged Lemon’s identity politics rant.
“I think you’re doing a disservice to our country by failing to recognize the fact that [Black Americans] have equality under the law,” Ramaswamy said. Lemon angrily responded: “[Y}ou’re sitting here, whatever ethnicity you are, explaining to me what it’s like to be black in America.”
Ramaswamy, a biotech multimillionaire, has already seeded his campaign with more than $10 million from his personal fortune. He has said his campaign is about confronting America’s “identity crisis.”
“Faith, patriotism, & hard work are out. Covidism, climateism, & genderism are in. We can’t even answer the question of what it means to be American,” he wrote in a tweet earlier this month.
We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis. Faith, patriotism, & hard work are out. Covidism, climateism, & genderism are in. We can’t even answer the question of what it means to be American. The GOP has a historic opportunity to fill that void. Don’t squander it. We're… pic.twitter.com/uOVsSyu7Cn
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) April 13, 2023
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Vivek Ramaswamy” by Vivek Ramaswamy.
