Vivek Ramaswamy woos voters in Dorchester County

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy stopped in the Lowcountry Saturday night for the annual Dorchester County GOP Faith, Family and Freedom dinner. The sold-out event in Ridgeville was filled with voters, party leaders from across the state and local lawmakers as well.

Ramaswamy spoke for about 45 minutes, hitting on all of the hot-button issues of the day and billing himself as the candidate of truth and the voice of a revolution.

“Do you want incremental change or do you want revolution? I stand on the side of revolution,” Ramaswamy said as he pitched the shrinking of the federal bureaucracy by 75% and the end of departments like the FBI, ATF and Department of Education.

Ramaswamy leaned heavily on references to George Washington and Ronald Reagan saying the country needs a landslide victory in the next election, suggesting it wouldn’t survive another tight election.

He says the way to a landslide is through young voters, which he appeals to as the youngest Republican to run for the party’s nomination at just 38 years old.

“I grew up in a generation where we were taught to celebrate our diversity and our differences so much that we forgot all of the ways we are really just the same as Americans. Bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion in 1776. I believe deep in my bones that those ideas still exist.”

He laid out his black-and-white platform as one that seeks to set the record straight and put America at the center of every decision.

“God is real. There are two genders. Fossil Fuels are a requirement for human prosperity. Reverse racism is racism. An open border is not a border. Parents determine the education of their children. The nuclear family is the best-known form of governance to mankind. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty,” Ramaswamy said.

He took several questions from the crowd. One of the questions asked him to explain his position on Taiwan. He said Taiwan is of strategic importance because of the role it plays in the trade of semiconductors, but suggested he would put the country on notice.

He says he would reaffirm American support of the country until we could build up our own manufacturing of semiconductors – which is a key component of many electronic devices - and then “reevaluate” the relationship with the country.

His visit to South Carolina comes as he is seeing a surge in the polls, many of which have him in second or third behind former President Donald Trump.

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