Conversation over a four-hour-long dinner convinced a Bettendorf state senator to throw his support behind biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for the Republican nomination for president.
The long dinner at Los Amigos in Bettendorf was supposed to last only an hour, Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, said. But he was swayed enough to switch from supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I talked with him more and more and found that a lot of his beliefs in streamlining government is something I think would be good at a national level,” Webster said. “And I think that he is the guy that can get it done.”
Webster said his switch was more about Ramaswamy pulling him in than DeSantis pushing him away but did say that he thought DeSantis’ fight with Disney was “weird” and that sometimes picking corporate fights over politics can backfire.
Webster supported Iowa’s recent reorganization of state government, which brought the number cabinet-level state agencies from 37 to 16 and eliminated hundreds of vacant state government positions. He wanted to see similar efficiencies at a national level.
The extended dinner is an example of the retail politicking Ramaswamy hopes will propel his long-shot bid to the White House. He had a chance for face-to-face time with a larger group of Quad-City conservatives on Thursday, as he made stops in the Iowa side in a tour bus emblazoned with his name.
The 37-year-old Ohioan says he’s the first millennial to run for the GOP nomination.
To a group of business leaders, lawmakers and city council members at the downtown Davenport offices of Estes Construction on Thursday, Ramaswamy pitched himself as unafraid to reduce the size of government and his vision for encouraging civic engagement.
He proposed eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and handing its duties to the states, a move that would impact distribution of federal financial aid and enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in education.
He also wants to put in place a requirement for young Americans ages 18-25 to pass a civics test or serve as a first responder or in the military before they can vote.
On the economy, Ramaswamy said he wouldn’t forgive student loan debt; would encourage more U.S. energy production, including of fossil fuels; reform the federal reserve; and “dismantle the regulatory state” that he called “the wet blanket on the U.S. economy.”
Ruhl and Ruhl Realtors owner Caroline Ruhl said she was looking for a candidate to unite the GOP. She liked what Ramaswamy had to say about reducing spending and ramping up energy resources.
In national polling, Ramaswamy hangs in the single digits and is now in a crowded field, competing with former President Donald Trump, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and others.
One attendee, state Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, told Ramaswamy, “Many of us here want a Republican winner in 2024.
“My question is, with 12 or 13 announced candidates, how do you break out of that pack and win a nomination and win the election?”
Ramaswamy responded by saying that his path was similar to Trump’s in 2015 and telling attendees that as a longer-shot candidate he’s able to do retail politicking with Iowans to get his message out and gain momentum, something he said he didn’t think would be possible in larger states.
He called himself the “outsider” of the 2024 race who was setting a conservative agenda and announcing policies early.
“I think we go further when we do it based on first principals and moral authority, rather than on vengeance and grievance,” Ramaswamy said. “I take it seriously to reach that next generation of Americans.”
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