At his campaign appearances, Vivek Ramaswamy is being hounded by crowds for photos. And while the Republican nominee for president is being accommodating, he is asking for the signatures of voters in exchange.
No exemptions! Ramaswamy urged Iowans at a campaign event on Saturday to sign a caucus card before they could take a photograph, saying, “Sign up and take a picture. It’s one of the fundamental components of caucus campaigns that supporters fill out cards with their contact information so that campaigns can follow up with them later by phone, email, or door-to-door canvassing. Additionally, Ramaswamy is taking a somewhat novel move in an effort to capitalize on his attention-grabbing performance at the first GOP presidential debate.
However, Ramaswamy’s request last weekend was mostly disregarded since the Iowans in attendance were more focused on photographing the 38-year-old entrepreneur than they were on doing the necessary actions to commit to caucusing for him.
Ramaswamy now faces a problem that has plagued presidential candidates in the past: how to take growing national interest and attention and turn it into success on the ground in early-voting states. That begins in Iowa, the first state to hold elections the next year, where Ramaswamy has been hiring employees and making frequent trips in an effort to make a big impression.
Ramaswamy has hosted the most town hall meetings in the Hawkeye State among the Republican candidates since the start of July, per an analysis by NBC News. After the debate last week, he held eight events over two days, and this week, he will return to Iowa for four events. After that, he has 11 events booked in New Hampshire, the location of the next debate in 2024.
In an interview with NBC News, Ramaswamy discussed the significance of mobilizing caucus-goers in Iowa, saying that “the most influential people in a community are the individuals who actually were the ones that showing up for the last five months since they were most plugged into and really earnestly interested about who a new candidate is.”
“Now that many of them are on our side, they’re actually going to be our multiplier impact in a caucus system,” Ramaswamy added.
That has served as a blueprint for successful campaigns in Iowa, with early backers serving as ambassadors in their neighborhoods and luring in new ones. It is yet unknown how many Iowans will support Ramaswamy on the day of the caucuses. Before the first GOP debate, a statewide survey by NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom found that Ramaswamy had 4% of the GOP caucus-goers’ first-choice support.
However, according to unbiased observers, the self-funders staffing levels in Iowa are among the most substantial in the 2024 race, allowing voters to feel his presence even when he is not present physically.
Brett Barker, the mayor of Nevada, Iowa, and chair of the Story County GOP claims that it is now one of the stronger ground games in the state.
He noted that they frequently send a representative to our monthly meetings and that they had a good number of volunteers march in the county’s Fourth of July parade. “So they are here and working very hard on the ground,”
According to senior adviser Tricia McLaughlin, who frequently accompanied Ramaswamy on the campaign trail, the campaign now has around 200 volunteers and about a dozen staff members throughout the state.
McLaughlin stated, “We are actively hiring,” and added that the campaign had to change in order to accommodate more interest. After Iowans had to be turned away at least twice during the course of the weekend due to venues filling to capacity, McLaughlin declared, “We obviously need to get bigger venues.”
Although Ramaswamy’s campaign is present in Iowa, it hasn’t been very active on the air. According to AdImpact, Ramaswamy’s super PAC, American Exceptionalism PAC, had only invested $323,000 in Iowa as of August 28—a significant decrease from the sums spent by organizations backing his rivals.
The amount of money spent on advertising, according to McLaughlin, won’t be a deciding factor at this stage of the contest. “I don’t think a 30-second TV advertisement can [in] any way make up for being on the ground, meeting people one-on-one, and answering your questions,” she asserted.
Ramaswamy’s faith, in the opinion of Republican political strategist Dave Kochel, an Iowa native who worked on Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns, could play a role in the candidate’s performance in the state. Kochel brought up his time working for Romney as well as the concerns voters had regarding his religion.
Kochel added, “That’s going be five times worse with a Hindu candidate if evangelicals in Northwest Iowa had an issue with a Mormon because they just felt the religion was a bit strange. In both 2008 and 2012, Romney came in second place in the Iowa GOP primary.
Many Iowans felt Ramaswamy’s debate performance brought back memories of 2016. He demonstrated to the people his backbone. The chair of the Jackson County Republican Party, Darla Chappell, said of him, “He reminds me of a younger Trump.
However, Kochel noted that given Trump’s lead in the Iowa polls right now, Ramaswamy may only have himself to blame.
“You already have a candidate if you agree with Vivek Ramaswamy. You support Donald Trump, he declared.