Vice President JD Vance's A political group, including two top advisers, is joining Vivek Ramaswamy in the soon-to-be-announced 2026 Ohio gubernatorial run, a knowledgeable source confirmed to Fox News.
The news follows discussions between Ramaswamy and Vance, who until he stepped down earlier this month to assume the vice president was a senator from Ohio, added to the process, who asked to remain anonymous. known to speak freely.
Ramaswamy, a multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, have been putting the pieces together for weeks to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is term-limited and will not seek re-election.
“Expect Vivek to announce his engagement in mid-March,” a source told Fox News.
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Vivek Ramaswamy and Kristi Noem applaud during the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Pool)
Ramaswamy was one of the opponents who challenged President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before withdrawing from the race and becoming Trump's chief ally and representative.
Two of Vance's advisers are Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played a major role in Vance's 2022 Senate race and his vice presidential campaign last summer and fall, after Trump named the first senator to and his partner.
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The Based in Ohio Chabria, a veteran of Buckeye State politics, is expected to serve as Ramaswamy's campaign general counsel.
Surabian, who is also a top adviser to Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son and a key figure in the MAGA movement, will run a political group that is joined by Ramaswamy.
Tony Fabrizio, a former Republican pollster who worked on Trump's 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance's 2022 Senate campaign, is also there, according to the source, as is Arthur Schwartz, another friend of next to Vance and Donald Trump Jr.
Vice President JD Vance speaks before swearing in Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Vance, who has known Ramaswamy since they both attended Yale Law School, has been involved in Ohio politics since winning his 2022 Senate bid in one key battleground state that has turned into minister ten years ago.
Vance suggested now-Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of his 2024 GOP Senate primary victory, and key members of Vance's political team have run Moreno's campaign.
“It shouldn't come as a surprise that JD's top staff is working with Vivek, as JD and Vivek have had a long-standing friendship,” Vance's political source told Fox News.
The longtime Ohio Republican, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said Vance is “sending a message” with the move.
He added that the advisers attached to Ramaswamy's efforts are an “all-star campaign team.”
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Also part of that group, according to the source, are three veterans from Ramaswamy's White House campaign – Ben Yoho, Mike Biundo and Chris Grant.
Ramaswamy, now 39, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and saw his stock rise quickly as he went from long-shot to contender for the Republican nomination.
He campaigned for what he called “America First 2.0” and was one of Trump's biggest supporters in the opposition party, calling Trump “the most successful president of our century.” years.”
Ramaswamy abandoned his bid for the White House last year after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a key candidate on the way to campaign.
Trump, in the days after his victory in the presidential election in November, named Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, along with Ramaswamy, to lead the project of the Department of Government Operations, better known by its acronym DOGE.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy arrive at the US Capitol to discuss their efforts to lead DOGE, in December. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
But last Monday, when Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer working at DOGE. Ramaswamy's exit appears to clear the way for Musk, Trump's main donor and key ally, to run DOGE without sharing the glory.
“It was my honor to help support the establishment of DOGE. I am confident that Elon & the team will succeed in improving the government. I will have more to say soon about my future plans in Ohio. best of all, we are all – helping President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote.
DeWine announced a week and a half ago that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will fill the US Senate seat held by Vance until he stepped down prior to the Trump/Vance inauguration.
Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy had expressed interest in serving in the Senate.
Governor Mike DeWine announces his appointment of Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, right, to fill the US Senate seat previously held by Vice President-elect JD Vance, on January 17, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)
DeWine's decision to appoint Husted to fill a vacant Senate seat appeared to hasten Ramaswamy's move to start a gubernatorial streak.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Trump's senior ally in the Senate, on Monday agreed with Ramswamy's all-but-partial pledge.
“I have had the privilege of working closely with Vivek G. Ramaswamy, and he is completely focused on trying to save our country,” Scott said in a social media post.
The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced his candidacy for governor last week.
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Ramaswamy's move to run for governor also comes weeks after he and Musk drew fire among Trump's staunch MAGA supporters over their support for U.S. worker visas. temporary H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers.
Ramaswamy's comments criticizing the American culture that he says “value virtue over virtue” drew a lot of attention from leading voices on the right as well as others in Trump's political circle.
Ohio, once a general election battleground, has turned red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated the statewide polls.