DeSantis nukes ‘tech guy’ Vivek after Ohio drubbing: ‘Not in tune’ with blue-collar voters

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted failed Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his GOP handlers, arguing on a podcast that he wasn't "in tune" with the working-class people of the state.

Biotech entrepreneur Ramaswamy lost his scandal-plagued race to Democratic candidate Amy Acton by 7.9 percentage points. Despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement and guidance from Vice President JD Vance’s top advisers, Ramaswamy lost amid a "blue wave" that produced major Democratic upsets across the country. The midterm elections were widely viewed as a referendum on Trump's presidency.

But DeSantis, who ran for president in 2024 and is term-limited after 2026, shared on the Sage Steele Show that Ramaswamy bore some responsibility for his loss.

"I don't know why they would have pushed him to be the candidate there. Oh, my mom's from Youngstown. Ohio is a working class state, very blue collar. You know Vivek, he's like a tech guy," DeSantis said.

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Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during a campaign rally on February 25, 2025, at the Glass City Center in Toledo, Ohio. (Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Ramaswamy, who previously ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, is the founder of biotech company Roivant Sciences and anti-ESG investment firm Strive Asset Management. He also briefly co-led President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk.

He was warmly embraced by Trump, who endorsed him the same day Ramaswamy announced his candidacy. Trump had previously encouraged Ramaswamy to consider seeking Vance’s former Senate seat. Ramaswamy and Vance have known each other since their time at Yale Law School.

DeSantis criticized Ramaswamy’s support for a merit-based H-1B visa system, arguing that it likely further distanced him from Ohio’s blue-collar voters. Ramaswamy had said the current lottery-based system should be "gutted."

'He wants to bring in foreign workers on visas. That is not the type of person that's going to sell." DeSantis said.

Ramaswamy's own companies have used the H-1B program, with Roivant Sciences having 29 H-1B applications approved between 2018 and 2023.

Meanwhile, Strive Asset Management, the investment firm he co-founded, moved its headquarters from Columbus to Dallas in 2025, months before Ramaswamy launched his campaign for Ohio governor. Ramaswamy said he was no longer involved in the company’s operations, but remained a major shareholder.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference at the State Emergency Operations Center regarding Hurricane Isaias on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters)

"And I know he shot himself in the foot," DeSantis said. "I know he did a lot of other stuff to make it a real landslide against him. But even with that, it's like you know you got to meet the voters where they are on some of this stuff," DeSantis said. "I think we would have done better in Ohio had we had a candidate that was more representative or more in tune with the interests of kind of these blue collar people that make the backbone of Ohio."

Just weeks before the election, Ramaswamy’s campaign drew bipartisan outrage for using Democratic Gov.-elect Amy Acton’s estranged mother in an attack ad that called the Democratic candidate a "liar" and disputed her account of childhood poverty and homelessness.

The ad omitted that Acton had not seen or spoken to her mother since age 12, when her stepfather was arrested on charges of raping her. He pleaded not guilty but fled the area before trial, and court records show authorities continued seeking his arrest for years. Acton’s brother has said their mother remained married to him until his death in 2004.

Ramaswamy's loss, alongside Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Husted's loss to Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown by 4.9 percentage points, came just two years after Trump won the state by 11.2 percentage points.

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Amy Acton, former director of the Ohio Department of Health and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, meets with local residents while campaigning at Bottoms Up Coffee in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Stephen Zenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In addition to criticizing Ramaswamy, DeSantis took aim at Congress, saying Republicans are now on the "defensive" and faulting lawmakers for failing to codify Trump’s executive orders into law.

"Last night's elections did not only kneecap the last two years of the Trump administration, it basically ensures the four years after that are going to either be Democrat years where they have a trifecta or where you have a Republican president that is hemmed in and limited," DeSantis said.

DeSantis also pushed back against any 2028 speculation.

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"The only way that I would run for any office is if you can actually deliver big results," DeSantis said. "I don't want to just be a timepiece where I just sit there like a potted plant."

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Fox News Digital reached out to Ramaswamy for comment.