evidence: How Vivek Ramaswamy Became A Major Presidential Candidate According to FiveThirtyEight’s definition, there are currently 11 major Republican candidates for president. Ten of them have previously held or currently hold major elected office (president, senator, governor, representative, mayor) — and then there’s Vivek Ramaswamy. But you wouldn’t guess at his lack of political experience from how he’s performing (at least so far). The Ohio businessman and first-time candidate has managed to poll higher than three current or former governors and receive about as much Google search interest as a former vice president and a former U.N. ambassador. [...] Ramaswamy had another big advantage over the other non-politicians in the GOP primary: He already had a platform from which to reach the Republican base. In 2021, Ramaswamy wrote a book called "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam" warning against the creep of liberal politics into business practices. As a result, even before his presidential campaign, he was a frequent guest on conservative cable news to talk about the dangers of "wokeness." From December 18, 2020, through the day he launched his campaign, he appeared on Fox News at least 110 times and Newsmax at least 12 times. That includes 20 appearances on a "Fox and Friends"-branded show and 22 appearances on Tucker Carlson’s show — on which he announced he was running for president on Feb. 21, 2023.