Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to supporters during a town hall event at the Marriott Hotel on July 11. Courtesy photo/Vivek 2024

NASHUA – Speaking to supporters at the Marriott Hotel, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy focused on the importance of simply telling voters the truth.

“Our country was founded on the truth, but we don’t talk about the truth,” he said during his town hall event on July 11, emphasizing that a change is desperately needed. “We will stand up for the truth, we will fight for the truth.”

Born to Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University and a Juris Doctorate from Yale University. He went on to make a name for himself in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, founding Roivant Sciences and Sio Gene Therapies. At 37 years old, Ramaswamy said he is the first millennial to run for president on the Republican ticket.

“I’ve lived the American Dream,” he said.

However, he expressed concerns about what the future may hold, particularly for his two young children.

“I am genuinely worried that the American Dream will not exist for my two sons,” he said.

Confident that he would be a two-term president, Ramaswamy said he would eliminate a number of federal agencies that are part of the “corrupt administrative state.” These include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Education, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have a whole list, we will close them, we will shutter them,” said Ramaswamy. “You cannot reform the beast, you have to slay the beast.”

Regarding border security, Ramaswamy said many of the 1.3 million American soldiers have not been deployed. Therefore, soldiers need to be stationed at both the northern and southern borders to prevent illegal immigration.

“An open border is not a border,” he said.

Regarding the potential for voter fraud, Ramaswamy said the 2024 election needs to be won in a decisive fashion.

“It has to be a landslide election,” he said, calling attention to the 1980 election when challenger Ronald Reagan cruised to victory with 489 electoral votes over President Jimmy Carter. “We had the Reagan Revolution in 1980, I’m bringing the Ramaswamy Revolution in 2024.”

Ramaswamy also said he will campaign anywhere in the country. He said he has already made stops in the South Side of Chicago and in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

The latest poll figures from Echelon Insights show Ramaswamy with 10 percent of the vote in the Republican Primary. This puts him in third place behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.