Washington: Indian-American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy participated in 42 campaign stops last week, more than any other 2024 candidate.
According to the USA Today newspaper, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur hopes to keep up his rigorous timetable, hitting 38 events this week.
At a campaign stop in Iowa Friday, Vivek acknowledged that there is a “logistically grueling element” to his schedule, but the energy of the crowds in the state is keeping him motivated.
The Yale Law School graduate with a net worth of about $630 million said the formula that works for him is “W-O-R-K”, and it all stems from a lesson learned from his parents.
“Here’s how you spell luck: W-O-R-K,” Ramaswamy said.
“It’s always been a formula that has worked for me in my life and be it in my academic background, be it as a student, be it in my career, as a businessman, and now on this journey,” he told USA Today.
Anson Frericks, who co-founded the company Strive Asset Management with Ramaswamy early last year, told USA TODAY there’s no time for rest in the latter’s schedule.
“There’s no one that I’ve ever met that gets up in the morning, works out while he’s taking phone calls,” said Frericks, who’s known Ramaswamy since high school.
Ramaswamy worked 16 hours per day at Strive, Frericks said, and that work ethic culture “permeated” throughout the organisation.
He is running fourth nationally in the aggregation of polls by RealClear Politics, which shows him with five per cent support in Republican primaries.
In the New Hampshire state primary, RealClear Politics places him fifth with seven per cent.
On January 23, that state will be the second to hold intraparty elections for the Republican Party nomination, which can enable it — and Iowa, which will be the first on January 15 — to influence the primaries that follow in determining who stays on in the race where former President Donald Trump holds an overwhelming lead.
“I’m confident that’s going to be the right way to get elected — not being insulated from the people who are representing, but in many ways, being responsive to the people we’re representing,” he told USA Today.
“I’d rather spend time with these caucusgoers and Pizza Ranches across the state, rather than being a cloistered mega donor retreat,” he added.