Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is launching a multimillion-dollar ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire as the 38-year-old GOP millennial struggles to stand out from the pack against former President Trump and his other 2024 rivals.
Ramaswamy’s campaign is so far spending up to $8 million in Iowa and $4 million in New Hampshire on an ad buy that will include broadcast, cable, radio, digital and direct mail, his campaign confirmed. The ad buy will kick off Saturday and continue until the state’s primaries.
Ramaswamy campaign senior adviser Tricia McLaughlin noted those reservations could increase in either or both states. Politico was the first to report the news about the ad buy.
“Vivek’s not an idiot. Anytime earlier would have been stupid. And this is just the beginning,” McLaughlin said in a text message to The Hill, touting the fact the campaign was getting a better ad rate than that of super PACs to go up on air.
“If people thought he was aggressive with events leading up to this stay tuned for post November 8,” she added.
The move comes as Ramaswamy — and the rest of the field — have struggled to catch up to Trump in polls. But the resident GOP millennial polled in fourth place, behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average of national surveys.
RealClearPolitics’s polling average of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina surveys shows him in fifth place.