DeSantis torches 'tech guy' Ramaswamy after Ohio rout: 'Not in tune' with blue-collar voters

Ron DeSantis didn't hold back. The Florida governor piled on Vivek Ramaswamy during an appearance on the Sage Steele Show, pinning the Republican's 7.9-point loss in the Ohio governor's race on a simple mismatch: a Silicon Valley-flavored candidate running in a state he says runs on blue-collar muscle. Democrat Amy Acton took the race.

DeSantis pointed at Ramaswamy's background as the giveaway. The biotech entrepreneur and founder of Roivant Sciences and Strive Asset Management is a self-described tech guy, and DeSantis argued that never translated in a state he described as working class to its core. He also knocked Ramaswamy's push for a merit-based H-1B visa system, saying the candidate wanted to bring in foreign workers instead of speaking to Ohio's own. He called it shooting himself in the foot.

The visa criticism lands with a wrinkle: Ramaswamy's own companies have leaned on the program, with Roivant Sciences notching 29 approved H-1B applications between 2018 and 2023. Strive Asset Management, which he co-founded, moved its headquarters from Columbus to Dallas in 2025, months before he launched his campaign. Ramaswamy has said he's no longer involved in the firm's operations but remains a major shareholder.

The loss wasn't the only blow. Republican Senate candidate Jon Husted fell to Democrat Sherrod Brown by 4.9 points — just two years after Trump carried Ohio by 11.2. Ramaswamy had Trump's endorsement from day one and guidance from Vice President JD Vance's top advisers, yet still got buried in a national blue wave. Weeks before the vote, his campaign drew bipartisan backlash for an attack ad featuring Acton's estranged mother that omitted the details of their long estrangement.

DeSantis zoomed out from Ohio to Washington, calling the GOP's midterm shellacking an extinction-level event and blaming Congress for failing to codify Trump's executive orders into law. He warned the results kneecap the rest of Trump's term and set up either a Democratic trifecta or a hemmed-in Republican president next. He waved off 2028 chatter, saying he'd only run if he could deliver big results — not sit there like a potted plant. Fox News Digital reached out to Ramaswamy for comment.