Republicans are increasingly fearful that “industrial-strength MAGA racism” may end up backfiring by sinking a GOP candidate running in an otherwise “very winnable” race, Zeteo reported Wednesday.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Ohio’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, has trailed his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, in recent polls, with a late September survey from Suffolk University showing Acton leading Ramaswamy by 9 points. President Donald Trump carried Ohio in 2024 by double digits, and the state has not had a Democratic governor since 2011.
And yet, some in the “upper tiers of Trumpworld and the Ohio GOP” now say they are “very concerned that the racism and xenophobia they’ve nurtured and inflamed” may “come back to bite them in the a--,” Zeteo reported.
“Who could have possibly guessed that many people who vote for the ultra-nativist Indians-Are-Stealing-Our-American-Jobs Party may not want to vote for the brown candidate named ‘Vivek Ramaswamy?’” Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng wrote.
“It’s Ohio; it is not supposed to have a Democratic governor. But the polls show a tight race, and it’s one that Republican consultants and lawmakers in and out of the Buckeye State are increasingly anxious about.”
Ramaswamy’s own “missteps” have also contributed to GOP fears, Zeteo noted, such as flaunting his wealth by taking an 11-minute flight in a private jet to travel 40 miles, struggling to hit a baseball, and nearly dropping a child at a recent rally.
“One Ohio conservative activist I spoke to cited anecdotal evidence that they’d personally heard from multiple longtime GOP voters who said they weren’t totally comfortable with a Hindu governor,” Suebsaeng wrote. “Ramaswamy is an Indian-American man and identifies as Hindu. Acton is a white woman.”