2024 US presidential candidate: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?
Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire former biotech executive, hopes to jump-start his ebbing 2024 Republican presidential bid with a stronger-than-expected showing on January 15 in the Iowa caucus, the first state Republican nominating contest. Here are some facts about Ramaswamy's life and career: Ramaswamy, 38, was born in Ohio to immigrant parents from southern India. He was raised in the Hindu faith of his parents, but went to a Roman Catholic high school.
He earned a biology degree at Harvard University before attending Yale Law School. Ramaswamy worked as a hedge fund investor and says he had already made several million dollars before graduating from Yale. In 2014, he founded his own biotech company, Roivant Sciences, which bought patents from larger companies for drugs that had yet to be fully developed and marketed.
He resigned as CEO in 2021. In 2023, the business magazine Forbes estimated Ramaswamy's wealth at $630 million. Ramaswamy says he was a libertarian during college.
While at Harvard, he would perform libertarian-themed rap songs under the stage name Da Vek. He has reprised some of his rap skills on the campaign trail this year. His performance of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" at the Iowa State Fair in August went viral on social media.
Ramaswamy says he voted for a libertarian in the 2004 presidential election, but did not vote in 2008, 2012 or 2016. He has contributed to Republican and Democratic candidates. He says he voted in 2020 for then-President Donald Trump, the overwhelming frontrunner for the party nomination in 2024.
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