Vivek Ramaswamy, former Republican presidential candidate and current Ohio governor, has grand plans for the future of the Ohio River Valley.
During a “Sunday Morning Futures” segment on Fox News, Ramaswamy explained his big plans for Ohio should he be elected governor in 2026, including making it the “best state in the nation.”
“I don’t want to just lead Ohio to be one of the better states in the Midwest,” Ramaswamy told host Maria Bartiromo. “I want to lead Ohio to be the best state in the nation to generate wealth, to raise a young family, and to give your kids a world-class education. I want to turn our state into a special economic region at the heart of the country, free of red tape, free of bureaucracy. The state where the American Dream is the birthright for our children.”
Ramaswamy then explained how manufacturing and future technologies could help achieve his objectives. He promoted a future in the state where Ohio rivals Silicon Valley.
“People talk about the Rust Belt. I don’t want to talk about the Rust Belt,” Ramaswamy said. “I want to lead us to the platinum belt. The sectors of the future, from semiconductors to nuclear energy to even AI, and the way I think about this as if Silicon Valley led the way in the American economy for the last ten years, I want to make sure it’s the Ohio River Valley for the next ten years, and that’s my vision for taking the state to the next level.”
Bartiromo reviewed some of Ramaswamy’s plans and previous statements. The Fox News host mentioned Ramaswamy’s emphasis on education, citing his comments about merit-based performance. She also mentioned Ramaswamy’s previous statement suggesting Ohio could play a pivotal role in the nation’s energy sectors.
“People think ‘drill baby drill,’ they think Texas, which is great, I love Texas,” Ramaswamy said. “But we got to ‘drill baby drill’ in Ohio, thinking about the oil and natural gas resources under our own ground, that in many ways has gone untapped, especially in an era when energy demands are going to be going up.”
He also introduced a bold new strategy to improve education, which included incentivizing and rewarding the good teachers but holding those educators accountable who aren’t “serving the kids well.”
“But there is no economic excellence without educational excellence,” the gubernatorial candidate said. “We have to be the state that leads the way with merit-based pay for teachers, principals, administrators, and superintendents in the public schools.”
TRUMP ENDORSES RAMASWAMY FOR GOVERNOR OF OHIO
“I want our public schools to compete with the best,” he said. “And that means we have to start paying for performance for the teachers, where the best ones should get paid more, for helping our kids excel in reading and writing and math, where they’re falling behind. But that means we have to cut a lot of the dead weight hanging around that isn’t serving our kids well either.”
Ramaswamy announced his candidacy for Ohio governor in February. He is seeking to replace Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who is serving his final years in the term-limited position.
