Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place in the national polls as of Friday among presidential candidates vying for the GOP nomination, and it's a distant fourth, with an average of 5.2%—he trails former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (7.8%), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (12.6%), and front-runner Donald Trump, with the former president way ahead of the pack with nearly 60%, per FiveThirtyEight.com. Ramaswamy is now making a last-ditch attempt to boost his numbers, with the Hill reporting he's set to make a $12 million ad buy in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire: $8 million in the former, $4 million in the latter, his campaign confirms.
The ad buy, which kicks off Saturday, is said to feature everything from broadcast and cable TV, radio, and digital to direct mail. It also shows the 38-year-old billionaire businessman is "playing to win," spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, per Politico, which notes Ramaswamy is coming in fifth in both those states, notching about 4% of the vote. "If people thought he was aggressive with events leading up to this, stay tuned for post-Nov. 8," McLaughlin added, per the New York Post, which notes she was likely referring to the debate to be held next Wednesday by the Miami Republican National Committee.
McLaughlin also said that it wouldn't have been the best idea for Ramaswamy to have made such a massive ad purchase before this point in the campaign season. "Vivek's not an idiot," McLaughlin said. "Anytime earlier would have been stupid. And this is just the beginning." Ramaswamy himself offered some optimistic words in New Hampshire on Wednesday. "We're going to stop at nothing until we win," he insisted, per Politico. "And so I think you're gonna see that pretty soon, and it's gonna ramp up and so stay posted, but it's just going to be the tip of the iceberg ... in between now and January." (More Vivek Ramaswamy 2024 stories.)
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