In January 2024, Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian expat parents from Kerala, dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed President Donald Trump. And then, in January 2025, he has exited from his position as co-leader of the department of government performance, which he had helped build, to optimize US state; after Trump won the presidential election next November.
Yet as Ramaswamy, 39, has hinted at running for elected office in Ohio as his coming program; some experts feel that he has been eased out because of resistance with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is now in total control of DOGE. Some Indian-Americans believe that the return of Ramaswamy from the high page part in the Trump authorities is a loss for the neighborhood. While President Trump had himself tapped the biomedical entrepreneur from Ohio to co-lead Expand with Musk; his leave was actually announced by a director for the company Anna Kelly, who said in a declaration “Vivek Ramaswamy played a vital role in helping us make DOGE. He intends to run for elected office rapidly, which requires him to be outside of DOGE. ”
Ramaswamy is expected to announce his plan for Ohio government as early as next year and if elected in November 2026, he will be the next Indian-American governor of a position in the US after Republicans Nikki Haley, government of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016.
Sanjeev Joshipura, Washington DC based senior director of Indiaspora, a non-profit company of international Indian nature leaders, feels that running for Governor of Ohio and being actively involved in DOGE management are both demanding and important roles and it is apparent that Ramaswamy does not have the speed to do both together. “Based on his presidential campaign, one senses that he will remain a prominent player in the American political firmament. I know many Indian-Americans, among others, look up to him as an inspiration, ” Joshipura told the Times of India.
Ramaswamy’s campaign rhetoric, as a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, of ‘put merit back ’ and end dependence on China had stuck a chord with young Americans and he had fared well in opinion polls before dropping out of the race.
If elected as governor of the state, Ramaswamy will be the fourth high-profile elected Indian American in Ohio. Republican Niraj Antani, who was first elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2014, became one of the youngest state lawmakers in the US at 23. Antani, whose parents immigrated to the US in 1978, won four state elections in Ohio and was state senator from January 2021 to December 2024. He lost the Republican primary to the US House of Representatives for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional district in March 2024.
Antani was the second Indian-American and Hindu-American member of the Ohio state house after Jay Goyal, a Democrat, who was a member for three terms from 2007 to 2013. The first Indian-American in the Ohio state legislature, Goyal, who is president of Goyal Industries, a metal manufacturing firm in Ohio, served as the majority whip in the House.
Recently, Goyal attended the signing ceremony for a Bill designating October as Hindu Heritage Month in Ohio. The Bill was sponsored by Antani when he was state senator. October 2025 will mark the inaugural celebration of Hindu Heritage Month in Ohio.
At present, physician and Democrat Anita Somani is the only Indian-American in an elected position in Ohio. She was first elected state House representative in November 2022 and re-elected in November 2024.
