The 38-year-old grabbed attention with snappy responses at last week’s debate. Behind the scenes, his campaign is trying to build and turn interest into support.
URBANDALE, Iowa — Crowds are mobbing Vivek Ramaswamy for photos at his campaign events. And while the Republican presidential candidate is obliging, he’s demanding something in return: voters’ signatures.
The challenge now facing Ramaswamy has bedeviled presidential candidates before: How to take rising interest and attention nationally and translate it into success on the ground in early-voting states. That starts in the first state to vote next year, Iowa, where Ramaswamy has been hiring staff and making repeated visits in the hope of making a splash.Katherine Koretski
“Now that many of them are on our side, now they’re actually going to be our multiplier effect in a caucus system,” Ramaswamy continued. “It’s actually one of the stronger ground games in the state right now,” says Brett Barker, the chair of the Story County GOP and mayor of Nevada, Iowa. “We are actively hiring,” McLaughlin said, adding that the campaign has had to make shifts to accommodate greater interest. “We clearly need to get bigger venues,” said McLaughlin, after Iowans were turned away at least twice over the weekend when venues hit maximum capacity.
Republican political strategist Dave Kochel, a native Iowan who worked on Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and Jeb Bush’s 2016 effort, believes Ramaswamy’s faith could be a factor that ends up holding the candidate back in the state. Kochel referenced his experience working for Romney and the questions voters had about his religion.
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