WASHINGTON DC: Indian-American leader and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had participated in 42 campaign stops this week by Saturday, more than any other 2024 candidate, USA TODAY reported.
Opening up on his workstyle, he said that he is staying motivated by the “energy of the crowds” in Iowa, the first state to hear from voters next month, as he blitzes crucial early battlegrounds.
The Ohio-based entrepreneur will also keep up his rigorous timetable next week, hitting 38 events. Acknowledging that there is a “logistically gruelling element” to his schedule, the 38-year-old said that he is campaigning caffeine-free.
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“I am confident that’s going to be the right way to get elected–not being insulated from the people we are representing, but in many ways, being responsive to the people we’re representing,” he told USA TODAY.
“I would rather spend time with these caucusgoers and Pizza Ranches across the state, rather than being a cloistered mega-donor retreat,” he added.
He repeated what he had said multiple times before and said it all stems from a lesson learned from his parents.
“Here’s how you spell luck: W-O-R-K,” Ramaswamy said. “It’s always been a formula that has worked for me in my life, be it in my academic background, be it as a student, be it in my career, as a businessman and now on this journey.”
Ramaswamy, a Yale law school graduate with a net worth of about USD 630 million, is running his campaign like he’s run his businesses – with very little time off, USA TODAY reported.
Anson Frericks, who co-founded the company Strive Asset Management with Ramaswamy early last year, said that there is “no time for rest” in the businessman’s schedule.
“There’s no one that I’ve ever met that gets up in the morning and works out while he’s taking phone calls,” said Frericks, who’s known Ramaswamy since high school.
He also said that Ramaswamy worked 16 hours per day at Strive and that the work ethic culture “permeated” throughout the organisation.
Strive announced total assets of over USD 500 million in less than a year, USA TODAY reported, citing Businesswire.
On the campaign trail, Ramaswamy and his staff are grappling with some of the decades-old campaign side effects in America: sleep deprivation and a Pizza Ranch diet.
Tricia McLaughlin, senior advisor and communications director for Ramaswamy, said that sleep is rare for the entire staff, and she doesn’t remember the last time she watched a TV show.
Ramaswamy too acknowledged the long days and little sleep.
“I think there’s no substitute for being here on the ground and present,” he said of his frequent campaign stops. “And as it relates to the work and the sacrifice needed, sure…there’s some sacrifice involved in achieving something important for this country”.
Ramaswamy told USA TODAY that his diet, on the other hand, principally consists of Pizza Ranch.
Some of his other campaign-trail favourites include a Thai place near his campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, and cheese enchiladas, according to McLaughlin.
But the businessman also gets an energy boost and can be seen prepping for Republican debates by running, playing tennis or doing pushups. He also learned to surf after the third GOP debate.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy is juggling his presidential aspirations with fatherhood, and Frericks said he has been able to “seamlessly integrate” his professional life and family life on the campaign trail, USA TODAY reported.
Ramaswamy has been sharing on social media videos of feeding or reading books to his 1-year-old son Arjun or discussing naptime with his 3-year-old son Karthik.
His wife, Apoorva Ramaswamy, a Yale-educated throat cancer surgeon, also joins the campaign trail when she is free of her duties in the operating room.
“We have an obligation to introduce ourselves to the American people to help them understand who we are and what we stand for, but along the way they are teaching us about the things that are important to them. The people we meet through this process are kind and brave and fun and interesting,” Apoorva Ramaswamy told USA TODAY. “To be honest, we are having fun.”
While Ramaswamy’s schedule may seem demanding, his team views it as necessary to be successful when voters start to choose candidates in less than a month.
“That’s what it’s gonna take to win,” McLaughlin said. “That’s what it’s gonna take to, to surprise and shock the system.”
Notably, although the voters are taking notice of the candidate’s numerous campaign events, Ramaswamy is still fourth in most national polls, behind former President Trump, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The Indian American leader knows that he still needs more voters if he is going to force an upset in Iowa, and that’s why he’s filling up his calendar.
“I think the part that gives me energy is seeing how earnest so many of these people who have come to our events really are about our country,” USA TODAY quoted Ramaswamy as saying.
“And I’m doing my small part,” Ramaswamy said. “And it feels like we’re building a community in this campaign and a movement of a kind that I don’t think we can build if we were just doing it via television or even social media.” (ANI)
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