GOP White House hopeful, Vivek Ramaswamy, visited Carroll on Friday as his campaign made multiple stops over the weekend to connect with Iowa voters. Ramaswamy is the son of Indian migrants who came to the U.S. in the 1980s. As a second-generation American, Ramaswamy made his name and fortune in the financial and biopharmaceutical industries. He says his decision to run for president is based on preserving the same opportunities he had for future generations of Americans.
Ramaswamy says it is not enough for Republicans just to criticize these positions; the GOP must offer an alternative vision of what America can be under traditional conservative values.
Ramaswamy says that effort begins with properly restoring First Amendment values in our nation. Americans must be willing and able to debate any topic in the public eye without fear of retribution.
A fundamental tenet of Ramaswamy’s campaign is significant rollbacks to the federal government’s many executive agencies. He considers most of these agencies, commissions, and departments unconstitutional and believes they must be shuttered permanently.
He adds these agencies have given unelected bureaucrats too much influence on the day-to-day lives of Americans and stifled private industries’ ability to grow and innovate. In the latter half of the event, Ramaswamy took questions from the 100 or so people in attendance. One man asked how Ramaswamy would balance the nation’s overdependence on China compared to the quality consumer market it provides for Iowa.
The latest polling averages from FiveThirtyEight show former President Donald Trump as the GOP frontrunner with 53 percent. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second at 13.2 percent, followed by Ramaswamy at 7.4 percent, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at 5.6 percent, and former Vice President Mike Pence at 4.8 percent. Full audio from Ramaswamy’s campaign event in Carroll is included below.
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FULL AUDIO:
