Vivek Ramaswamy tried to emulate the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as audience members at Ohio State University's criticized and questioned his stances on anything from immigration to Israel.
Ramaswamy headlined a TPUSA event hosted at Mershon Auditorium on Ohio State University's campus Tuesday evening. Fox and Friends host Lawrence Jones helped moderate a question-and-answer portion with the audience after Ramaswamy and others spoke.
Ramaswamy touched on a lot of topics, but routinely went back to some key talking points.
When asked about how he and Kirk disagreed with each other about H1-B visas for skilled immigrant labor, Ramaswamy pivoted to admiring Kirk.
"Charlie and I, I mean, we grew very close. We would have debates where we agree on 95% of things, we disagree on 5%, but exhibit a culture of mutual respect that at minimum is committed to the principles of the American founding," Ramaswamy said.
The event was also just six months after Kirk was gunned down in Utah, spurring conservatives around the country to remember the man known for debating liberal college students with his brand of Christian nationalism.
A line of over two dozen people formed to lob questions at Ramaswamy. Many of the people who got to ask questions often rambled and made statements rather than ask a question.
Jones and Ramaswamy were patient with this at first, letting a woman talk about the importance of farmland and the impact of data centers. After Ramaswamy defended data centers, the woman shouted "Vote Casey Putsch" into the mic.
Ramaswamy responded "It's a free country."
Later, Ramaswamy and Jones asked people to ask questions more quickly.
Tuesday's event comes as Ramaswamy seeks the Republican nomination for Ohio governor against Putsch and Heather Hill. The winner will likely face Democrat Dr. Amy Acton in November.
One person was escorted from the room later in the evening after he heckled Ramaswamy, yelling over someone else in line who praised Ramaswamy instead of asking a question.
Despite saying that "peak wokeness" is behind many of the problems in the U.S., Ramaswamy said it is not a top five issue anymore. Ramaswamy often hit on that talking point, which he brought up so often during his 2024 campaign for president and wrote a whole book about called Woke Inc.
While questions were critical, the event didn't veer into attacks of Ramaswamy's religion like an October TPUSA event in Wyoming. Some at the event questioned whether Ramaswamy, a practicing Hindu, could lead Ohio. Over 60% of Ohioans, according to the Pew Research Center, identify as Christian.
Ramaswamy mentioned his "faith" several times during the event, casting religion and even civic devotion to the U.S. as the key to solving the problems facing the country.
"At the end of the day, individual, family, nation, and God beats race, gender, sexuality and climate if we have the courage to actually stand for it. And we will in Ohio," Ramaswamy said.
Multiple people asked Ramaswamy about whether he supports giving aid to Israel or cutting off support.
Ramaswamy said he stands by a position he has held since he first ran for president, that the U.S. needs to sunset the roughly $3.8 billion it sends to Israel annually. But, Ramaswamy took issue with singling out Israel and called out the people asking the questions, one of whom attacked Judaism as a religion.
"I would say some anti-Semitic instincts of laser focusing on this without focusing on other problems is also weird, bizarre, and should probably also stop," Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy brought up his likely Democratic opponent early on in the event to criticize her during an unrelated question about AI. Ramaswamy called her "Dr. Amy Lockdown Acton" and attacked Acton for decisions during the pandemic made by Acton and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
DeWine has defended Acton from Ramaswamy's rhetoric in recent weeks. He said decisions made by Acton with the Ohio Department of Health were ultimately subject to his approval.
Ramaswamy said the state's reaction caused more human suffering by overreacting to the pandemic by shutting down schools.
"I believe that the over-restrictive in response to COVID. Was actually, over the long run, worse than even the direct impact of the virus itself. I don't know if you agree with me on that," Ramaswamy said.
COVID-19 killed over 1 million people in the U.S.
