[7][8] According to Politico, Ramaswamy was inspired by Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, and wanted to run "with an entrepreneurial spirit, unorthodox ideas, and few expectations.

[16][17] His other key campaign issue was environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives, which Ramaswamy alleged are detrimental agendas that mix business with politics.

[11][4] He wrote that the corruption of American society by what he calls "victimhood narratives" makes it impossible to achieve merit-based hierarchies.

[21] Ramaswamy campaigned extensively for the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, the first contest of the candidate selection process.

[22] His campaign targeted young people, voters who were disaffected, and Donald Trump supporters who could be persuaded that Ramaswamy would "take the America First movement to the next level.

"[26][28] Ramaswamy opposed affirmative action, calling it the "single biggest form of institutionalized racism in America today.

[4] Ramaswamy's August 2021 book, the New York Times bestseller, Woke Inc described his view of the so-called "modern woke-industrial complex.

[45] In his book Nation of Victims, Ramaswamy expressed support for an inheritance tax rate as high as 59%, writing that inter-generational wealth transfers create a "hereditary aristocracy.

[50] Ramaswamy argued that the United States should use the military to directly take on Mexican drug cartels and "end the fentanyl epidemic in this country."

[55] Ramaswamy said "we will defend Taiwan until we achieve semi conductor independence...I expect that to happen by the end of my first term, by 2028."

[59][60] Ramaswamy proposed to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine by conceding Russia's current occupied territories.

To renew economic relations with these countries, Russia would be required to return to START and end its alliance with China,[61] which he labeled as the greater threat.

Ramaswamy encouraged Australia to play a stronger role in competing with China and defending Taiwan, as well as pledging to overcome obstacles to deliver US nuclear submarines to Australia as part of the AUKUS agreement (which was announced in 2021 by then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden).

[70] Ramaswamy said he would have free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former NSA employee Edward Snowden of all charges if elected.

"[71] Ramaswamy opposed government pressures on social media companies to censor disfavored political speech.

[74] He said he would have significantly lowered the number of permitted refugees allowed to immigrate to the U.S., while adding exceptions under "special circumstances", such as for Afghans who assisted the U.S. during its war in Afghanistan.

[80] The day after the first debate, Ramaswamy's campaign confirmed it raised an additional $450,000 from donors since the previous night, with an average donation of $38.

[85] Ramaswamy was interviewed by commentators across the political spectrum including Tucker Carlson,[86] Bret Baier,[87] Don Lemon,[88] Krystal Ball, Margaret Hoover,[89] Megyn Kelly,[90] Chuck Todd, Kaitlan Collins, Mike Rowe,[90] Bill Maher,[91] John Stossel, Michael Knowles, Alex Jones,[92] Candace Owens, Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson,[90] and Russell Brand.

[90] Time Magazine described it as a "everywhere-all-at-once strategy", which produced "a stream of online content more voluminous than any of his competitors.

Ramaswamy stated that his lockout was censorship, and a showcase of "Typical Big Tech behavior: trying to cover their tracks after egregious election interference."

"[95][96] On August 24, 2023, the FiveThirtyEight average of multiple recent polls placed Ramaswamy third at 10.3% behind Donald Trump (51.6%) and Ron DeSantis (14.8%) among Republican voters.

[101] At the first Republican presidential debate, Ramaswamy appeared alongside Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, and Doug Burgum.

"[106] Rich Lowry of National Review opined that DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and Haley were the three top performing candidates.

[113] A post-debate poll, conducted by JL Partners, asked registered Republican voters who gave the best performance in the debate.

[118] Ramaswamy was due to debate fellow Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News on October 3, 2023.

[129] After Trump's social media accounts were suspended following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Ramaswamy and Jed Rubenfeld co-wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed that called the attack "disgraceful", but argued that social media websites should be treated as state actors and that their ban of Trump violated the First Amendment.

Ramaswamy paid an editor to alter his personal Wikipedia page to appear more favorable to political conservatives before announcing his presidential campaign.

A campaign spokesperson said the edits were revisions of "factual distortions" and blamed a Ron DeSantis-aligned super PAC for amplifying the story.