COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb 24, (AP): Vivek Ramaswamy, the Cincinnati-born biotech entrepreneur who departed the Department of Government Efficiency initiative on President Donald Trump's first day, was expected to launch his bid for Ohio governor Monday. Ramaswamy, 39, is set to kick off his campaign in Cincinnati, joining the 2026 Republican primary just a month after presumed frontrunner and then-Lt Gov Jon Husted left the running to take a US Senate appointment.

Ramaswamy sought the GOP nomination for president in 2024 before dropping out to back Trump, who later tapped him to co-chair the efficiency initiative with billionaire Elon Musk. A near-billionaire himself, Ramaswamy has promoted his ties to Trump as he lines up key endorsements and donors in the governor's race, but the president has made no formal endorsement yet.

Ramaswamy joins a competitive GOP primary field to succeed Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, 78, a veteran center-right politician who is term-limited. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced a bid for the seat in January and Heather Hill, a Black entrepreneur from Appalachia, also is running. Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director who helped lead Ohio through the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is running as a Democrat.

They will compete in a former bellwether state that has tacked reliably red in recent years, having voted for Trump three times by more than 8 percentage points. Republicans also hold every statewide executive office, a majority on the Ohio Supreme Court and supermajorities in both legislative chambers.  He first rose to political prominence with his 2021 book, "Woke Inc: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” a scorching critique of corporations that he said use social justice causes as a smokescreen for self-interested policies.

He seeks to buck the traditional route to Ohio's governorship, which runs through extensive government service often stretching decades, and instead mount a Trump-style ascent into the job directly from the business world. The formula has worked for Vice President JD Vance and US Sen Bernie Moreno, two political newcomers who won Senate seats with the help of Trump’s endorsement in 2022 and 2024, respectively. But Ramaswamy will test it in a state government-level race for the first time in recent memory.