Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is launching a multimillion-dollar ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire as the 38-year-old Republican presidential candidate trails key primary rivals in recent polling.
Ramaswamy’s campaign said so far it plans to spend $8 million in Iowa and $4 million in New Hampshire on an ad buy that will include broadcast, cable, radio, digital and direct mail.
The first ad in the series, “Truth,” begins airing Saturday, according to the campaign.
In the ad, Ramaswamy outlines several of his “10 truths,” including “there are two genders,” “reverse racism is racism,” “an open border is not a border,” “parents determine the education of their children,” and “the U.S. Constitution is the greatest guarantor of freedom in human history.”
Ramaswamy campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the $12 million ad-buy “is to start,” and that TV ad reservations could increase in either or both states.
“And this is just the beginning. If people thought he was aggressive with events leading up to this, stay tuned for post-November 8,” McLaughlin said.
She also confirmed that Ramaswamy has rented an apartment in Des Moines for him and his family. The Washington Post first reported on the apartment, as the entrepreneur and author prepares for more frequent visits and tries to build momentum ahead of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses on Jan. 15.
McLaughlin said he has stayed in the apartment twice amid a series of campaign stops in late October.
The campaign said it plans to shift resources to the state after next week’s Republican presidential primary debate.
Ramaswamy has indicated the future of his campaign rests on the results of the Iowa caucuses.
A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Monday found that 4 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers who responded to the survey chose Ramaswamy as their first choice for president, tying him for fifth place with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Former President Donald Trump has a commanding 27 percentage point lead as the Republican front-runner, with Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis tied for second place at 16 percent.
Ramaswamy is the latest Republican candidate to begin funneling campaign resources to the leadoff caucus state.
DeSantis’ campaign has increased and accelerated spending on TV ads in the state and shifted staff to Iowa.
South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott last week announced moves to “go all-in on Iowa,” shifting staff and advertising money to the state and opening a campaign headquarters in West Des Moines in a bid to boost his struggling campaign.
Tim Scott: ‘Wipe Hamas off the face of the planet’
South Carolina U.S. Sen. and GOP presidential candidate Tim Scott, in a Thursday stop at the Pizza Ranch in Independence, Iowa, said he supports Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and its armed ground offensive against Hamas.
“The short answer is to wipe Hamas off the face of the planet and support Israel in their objective of doing so,” Scott said, citing Psalms 122:6. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And those who do will prosper. … From my vantage point, America has been blessed by our relationship with Israel.”
The Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7 with a military attack on Israel by Hamas, a terrorist organization that controls the Gaza strip. The initial attacks killed roughly 1,400 Israelis.
Israel’s government has pledged, in response, to eradicate Hamas in Gaza. Since then, roughly 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
“Common sense leads you to the conclusion the genocide … of the Jewish people is evil personified,” Scott said.
Scott also criticized overtures toward Iran made by the Biden administration, including negotiating a prisoner swap with Iran that included releasing $6 billion in sanctioned Iranian assets. Following the Hamas attack, that money is now blocked again.
U.S. officials have said the Iranian funds, which were restricted to humanitarian use, remained unspent in the wake of the attacks, though critics have argued Iran anticipated the influx of cash and moved other resources to Hamas as a result.
Iran is suspected of liability by proxy in the attacks against Israel via its funding of Hamas.
“We cannot continue to have that kind of weak posture from this administration that only invites more attacks,” Scott told a room of about 50 Iowa voters at the Pizza Ranch. “ … It is in our collective best interest to see Israel succeed.
“And we need to send the clearest, strongest signal to all the adversaries, specifically Iran, that attacks by your proxies comes back to you. And if we don’t figure out how to send that clear message to Iran — whether Hamas or Hezbollah or other proxies in the region — we’ll see more, not less, of this.”
Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau
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