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Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was booed during a speech at the Young Americans for Liberty convention in Cincinnati this week, videos posted on social media showed.
Ramaswamy, a Republican who ran for president in 2024, is in a tight race against Democrat Amy Acton in what has become one of the most competitive races of the 2026 midterm elections. Polling suggests Ohio could be competitive this year despite its rightward drift over the past decade. Ramaswamy, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, has at times found himself at odds with segments of the political right since his rise to national prominence during the last presidential election cycle.
Videos posted on X showed Ramaswamy walking onstage at the convention amid a chorus of boos. Throughout his speech, he faced heckles over Israel and immigration. Newsweek has contacted Ramaswamy and the Young Americans for Liberty for comment via email and contact form, respectively.
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The audience wasn't completely contentious, however, as Ramaswamy's discussion of capitalism, which he described as "the best system known to man to lift people up from poverty," drew applause from the crowd.
But toward the end of the 14-minute speech, Ramaswamy made a comment that garnered loud boos.
"No matter what happens, in whichever direction we go, the people in my generation—we've already made it, and we're going to be fine," he said over loud boos and heckling. "It's going to be your generation that pays the price. That choice belongs to you."
One audience member shouted: "We don't want to hear your bulls*** talking points. You're a political cretin, and you need to get the f*** out of here."
Ramaswamy continued the speech by asking the crowd to clap if they believed in capitalism. He then told those who applauded that they would "be carrying the rest of this room on [their] back," before ending his speech and leaving the stage, with another round of boos erupting as he left.
According to its website, Young Americans for Liberty was founded by the "Ron Paul movement" with the goal of preparing young conservative activists to "mobilize peers, fight anti-liberty campus policies, and build lifelong activism skills."
Vivek Ramaswamy’s Chances of Winning in Ohio
Ramaswamy and Acton are locked in a close race in Ohio, the latest polling data shows. Acton, who led the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, is vying to be the first Democrat in 20 years to be elected governor of the Buckeye State.
A New York Times/Siena University poll of 601 likely voters from June 15-28 showed each candidate with 47 percent support.
An AARP poll, conducted by Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, gave Acton a 3-point lead, 47 percent to 44 percent. It surveyed 800 likely voters from June 14-16.
A poll from Fox News also showed Acton up a single point, 50 percent to 49 percent. It was conducted by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research from May 28-June 1 among 1,015 registered voters.
However, an earlier poll from Bowling Green State University and YouGov showed Ramaswamy up 1 point, 48 percent to 47 percent. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters from April 7-14.
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Prediction markets slightly favor Ramaswamy, who had a 51 percent chance of winning on Kalshi and a 56 percent chance on Polymarket as of Friday morning.
Prediction markets allow traders to buy and sell contracts tied to political outcomes and current events, aggregating real‑money wagers into probability estimates.
Prices fluctuate as traders react to polling, fundraising, candidate developments and broader political trends. They measure trader sentiment at a given moment but do not always accurately predict the future.
Ohio Now Considered Toss-Up
Earlier in July, the Cook Political Report reclassified the Ohio governor's race from "lean Republican" to "toss-up," another sign that the race appears to be more competitive heading into the general election. Analyst Jessica Taylor wrote in the update that the shift reflected a "favorable national climate and unique Democratic recruits."
Sabato's Crystal Ball, another elections forecaster, still considered the race as leaning toward Republicans in its latest ratings.
Trump won Ohio by about 11 percentage points in 2024, an improvement on his 2020 and 2016 performances, when he won by about 8 points in each year.
But Ohio was viewed as more competitive for Democrats not long before. Former President Barack Obama narrowly carried Ohio in 2008 and 2012. The state shifted as Trump performed well among its working-class voters.
Trump made inroads with white, working-class voters who were previously more divided between Democrats and Republicans. His gains came from rural counties as well as the northeastern region near Cleveland. Democrats have gained some ground in Cincinnati and Columbus suburbs, but not enough to offset the GOP's gains in rural areas.
Still, Ohio has been competitive in some recent elections. Former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, won reelection in 2018 but lost in 2024 by fewer than 4 percentage points. He is running in November's Senate election against incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted, another race that is expected to be competitive.
Ramaswamy’s Rise to National Prominence
Ramaswamy ran for president as a Republican in 2024 but struggled to garner enough support to overtake Trump. Still, he became a favorite among many conservatives and gained national political attention through his criticism of "woke" corporate culture.
Upon his return to the White House, Trump selected the entrepreneur turned politician to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, but Ramaswamy stepped away from the position in its early days before announcing his gubernatorial run.
He has faced criticism from some conservatives in the past, including over his support for H-1B visas, which bring skilled foreign workers to the United States
In a lengthy X post that garnered backlash from the right, Ramaswamy wrote in December 2024: "The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over 'native' Americans isn't because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. ... Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Shakeema Edwards.
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