Current fourth-place GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is, by his own admission following the fourth RNC-sanctioned debate last week, not where he wants to be. The entrepreneur, however, may be working on a backup plan as his Republican presidential bid runs out of runway with just a few weeks until early-state voting begins in Iowa.
According to the Des Moines Register, Ramaswamy's campaign "has reached out to the Libertarian Party in Iowa to inquire about running for president on the party's ticket."
Well, that would certainly be something. According to the RealClear Politics polling average, Ramaswamy currently draws 5.0 percent support, lagging behind third-place Nikki Haley who has more than double his support at 12.4 percent, Ron DeSantis' 12.7 percent, and former President Donald Trump's far-and-away 60.3 percent.
Ramaswamy and his campaign seem to see the writing on the wall but aren't taking the polls as a sign in the same way U.S. Senator Tim Scott did when the South Carolina Republican suspended his campaign with an understanding that voters weren't saying "no" to him, just "not yet." Instead, Ramaswamy sounds like he's considering other options for an off-ramp from the GOP primary.
As the Des Moines Register explained:
Campaign operatives for Ramaswamy attended a local party event this week, and Ramaswamy has had conversations with two Iowa Libertarian officials, including one instance where he expressed interest in joining the ticket, one of those officials confirmed.
Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and author who in 2004 voted for a Libertarian presidential candidate, has openly criticized Republican leadership and policy as he seeks the party's presidential nomination in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
But he has struggled to gain traction in Iowa and other early states, Ramaswamy's potential defection to a third-party ticket could shake up an election that already contains several independent hopefuls.
Asked Thursday if he would run under the Libertarian ticket should he be defeated in the Republican race, Ramaswamy told the Register, "No." But he held out the possibility the Libertarian Party might nominate him.
"I expect to get the GOP nomination," Ramaswamy said. "I have strong libertarian instincts. I can't stop them from nominating me, and I would be proud if they did."
Adding to the intrigue, there were somewhat conflicting messages coming from Ramaswamy's camp and Iowa Libertarian Party officials who've interacted with the candidate:
Ramaswamy spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Register on Friday morning that the candidate was running as a Republican, not a Libertarian, and that the campaign was focused on bringing libertarians to support Ramaswamy in the Republican caucuses.
At a campaign event focused on eminent domain last week, Ramaswamy spoke briefly with Ryan Kurt, chair of the Polk County Libertarian Party. Kurt said that when he told Ramaswamy his role, the Republican candidate "mentioned that he might be interested in pursuing the Libertarian ticket."
"I told him if you're going to do that, you might want to start talking to some Libertarians," Kurt said.
Days later, Kurt said he received a call from Ramaswamy's campaign asking if it could send representatives to the Polk County chapter's monthly meeting Wednesday. During that meeting, Ramaswamy's representatives discussed "logistics of a possible LP run and some of the nuances of Iowa politics," including the ability to be nominated for multiple party caucuses, Kurt said.
However, the staffers "expressed that they're not currently planning any sort of pursuit of the LP ticket," Kurt said.
Ramaswamy told the Register he hadn't known his staff had attended the event, but he approved of their doing so.
"I wasn't aware of that, but sounds good," he said. "We go everywhere."
Claiming that the reports in the Des Moines Register and elsewhere were just "rumors that my competitors are circulating in Iowa," Ramaswamy released a video on X to "quash" the talk of him pursuing a future on the Libertarian ticket:
Yes, we’re courting libertarians & independents in Iowa to come out to the Republican caucus and also to help us win the general election. And no, I’m not running on the Libertarian ticket. There, that quashes the rumors that my competitors are circulating in Iowa. Politics… pic.twitter.com/ciwQ7smaaM
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 8, 2023
In a statement amid questions about Ramaswamy's plans in Iowa and beyond, the Libertarian Party of Iowa told the Des Moines Register that "that recent approach by the Ramaswamy campaign" was "a testament to the growing recognition that the spectrum of American political discourse must encompass diverse perspectives, particularly those centered on individual liberty."