Vivek Ramaswamy speaks on Friday at Turning Point's AmericaFest in Phoenix, Ariz.
Nick Fuentes says he'll campaign against Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio in slur-laced rant
by Greg Norman · Fox NewsNEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
White nationalist Nick Fuentes vowed to campaign against Vivek Ramaswamy in a slur-laced rant denouncing the Republican’s Ohio governor bid.
The declaration came just days after Ramaswamy called out Fuentes during a speech at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference in which he criticized Fuentes over some of his inflammatory remarks.
"I think I’m going to go to Ohio and the word that we are looking for is denial. We have to deny Vivek Ramaswamy the governorship. This is the only race I care about in ‘26. It’s the only one I care about," Fuentes said during a Tuesday livestream. He also used a slur to describe Ramaswamy and said he does not care if a Democrat defeats him in the governor's race.
When asked by Fox News Digital for a response, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign said on Wednesday, "We’re focused on the issues that matter most to Ohioans, not fringe voices that prefer a far-left Democrat to the Trump-endorsed conservative."
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Ramaswamy laid out his vision for what it means to be an American during remarks Friday at AmericaFest.
"What does it mean to be an American in the year 2026? It means we believe in those ideals of 1776," he said at the Turning Point USA event. "It means we believe in merit, that the best person gets the job regardless of their skin color."
"It means we believe in free speech and open debate," he added. "Even for those who disagree with us, from Nick Fuentes to Jimmy Kimmel, you get to speak your mind in the open without the government censoring you."
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Ramaswamy then said, "If you believe in normalizing hatred toward any ethnic group, toward Whites, toward Blacks, toward Hispanics, toward Jews, toward Indians, you have no place in the future of the conservative movement, period."
"And I will not apologize for that. I will not hedge when I say it," Ramaswamy continued. "If you believe, and you will forgive me for giving you an exact quote from our online commentator, Nick Fuentes. If you believe that Hitler was pretty f------ cool, you have no place in the future of the conservative movement. You can debate foreign aid, Israel all you want. That's fine. That's fair. But you have no place with that level of hatred."
Ramaswamy declared his candidacy for the Ohio governorship in late February.
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Current Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who is also a Republican, is term-limited and will be departing office in January 2027.
Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.