Ramaswamy defends fundraising strategy: ‘I’m not a super PAC puppet’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday defended his campaign’s fundraising strategy against attacks from other campaigns who criticized how much money he has loaned himself in the 2024 race as opposed to what he’s raised from the outside.

Ramaswamy instead blasted other campaigns who have relied on political action committees for donations.

“One thing that is different about me is that I’m not a super PAC puppet,” he told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

“You’re right that a lot of the other candidates have advertisements already spreading across TV funded by their super PACs,” Ramaswamy said. “What’s lifting us up is the small-dollar donors. We’re approaching 70,000 unique small-dollar donors that have lifted this campaign up, in addition to the large sizeable personal investments that I’ve made.”

A biotech entrepreneur and billionaire, Ramaswamy raised $7.7 million in the second quarter – $5 million of which he donated to himself, according to this latest campaign finance report. Ramaswamy’s campaign reported at the time that 40 percent of his 65,000 donors were either making their first donation to the GOP or their first political donation of any kind.

“My whole point is we don’t want super PAC puppet. We want an independent voice and a patriot who actually speaks the truth. That’s what I’m bringing to the race,” he continued.

In the interview, he compared his progress in the race to that of Donald Trump in 2015, when Trump launched his first presidential run that many political watchers didn’t take seriously until he began outperforming prominent, establishment candidates.

A recent Morning Consult poll has Ramaswamy polling in third place among GOP voters, with 8 percent of the vote. He outperforms Republican candidates Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie and others. He falls behind Trump, who has 55 percent of the support, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has 20 percent of the support.

“I began in March at 0.0 percent in the polls. Look at the national polling averages now. I’m consistently polling at third nationally. And that’s ahead of even the first debate when many people in this country haven’t yet gotten to know who I am,” he said.

“So, I think we’re on the same trajectory or ahead of where Donald Trump was in 2015, nationally polling against — ahead of a former vice president and numerous governors and U.S. senators. And I think we’re just getting warmed up as the grassroots across this country are absolutely responding to our message,” Ramaswamy added.

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