Vivek Ramaswamy to Let Fundraisers Keep 10 Percent of Money They Raise

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference in Washington on June 23, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy told The Epoch Times in late June that his campaign was “decentralizing the process of getting people to support us.”

“What does that mean? Actually make volunteers accountable for bringing more people into the movement,” said the biotech entrepreneur and anti-ESG investor.

A July 10 announcement from his campaign makes it clear that Ramaswamian accountability is about both carrots and sticks–and alerting voters to the small world of rich and powerful bundlers.

In videos posted to Twitter and other social media, Mr. Ramaswamy debuted “Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet,” a program that will let people who fundraise for his campaign take a flat 10 percent commission.

“There’s a tiny group–it’s an oligopoly–of people who raise money, bundling and otherwise, who get to keep a large percentage, sometimes up to 10 percent, of what they actually raise,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in one of the videos.

Bundling is common across both political parties.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s ultra-wealthy bundlers included investor Tom Steyer, media mogul Fred Eychaner, and businessman George Soros.

George Soros, Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations arrives for a meeting in Brussels on April 27, 2017. Olivier Hoslet/AFP/Getty Images

The Washington Examiner reported in May on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s own 2024 bundlers.

According to the Ramaswamy campaign, “Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet” participants will get a unique link they can use for fundraising.

In addition to receiving a 10 percent commission from every donation they raise, they may be eligible for other incentives for high performers, including “a personalized donation page, exclusive campaign swag, a personal call with Vivek, and invites to special events.”

‘How Is This a Pyramid Scheme?’

Some accused the candidate of running some sort of scam.

“Vivek turning his campaign into a pyramid scheme,” journalist Jordan Schachtel wrote on Twitter.

“I would pose to them, ‘How is this a pyramid scheme when it’s just a flat commission?’” said Ramaswamy Senior Adviser Tricia McLaughlin in a July 10 interview with The Epoch Times.

Ms. McLaughlin stressed that those who join “Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet” won’t face any downside risk. She questioned whether the people talking about pyramid schemes know what a pyramid scheme actually is.

Mr. Schachtel told The Epoch Times he sticks by that comparison.

“It is by-the-book pyramid selling,” he told The Epoch Times in a July 10 message. “A political campaign should not be a money-making scheme or a party to one.”

Ms. McLaughlin said Mr. Ramaswamy’s novel fundraising idea was inspired by his experience at the helm of Roivant Sciences.

“A lot of the scientists in pharmaceuticals are not incentivized. They’re not making the big money from these therapies,” she said.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who has positioned himself as a critic of affirmative action and an advocate of merit, has met with criticism because of Roivant’s apparent embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and related values that many conservatives have dubbed “woke.”

Roivant Social Ventures, which started in 2020 while the presidential hopeful still led Roivant as CEO, describes itself as “committed to the goal of health equity.”

In addition, Mr. Ramaswamy’s financial disclosure form with the Office of Government Ethics reveals his past and present investments in companies known for their strong commitment to ESG and DEI, including Microsoft.

“The first time Vivek learned of these positions was when he saw this financial disclosure report. Vivek’s stock portfolio is independently managed by a third party. The filer has authority to make trades and invest in stocks without his expressed consent or knowledge,” Ms. McLaughlin told The Epoch Times.

According to Ms. McLaughlin, her candidate believes pharma and politics have both suffered from an excess of middlemen.

“Vivek learned how much people are making off of this political process,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

The proposal dominated the early Monday news cycle for a reason: it seems to be a genuinely unique proposal, at least in American presidential politics.

The Republican Party has faced criticism for what some see as sluggishness and a lack of creativity as the norms for U.S. elections have changed under their feet.

“It’s my contention that, currently, Joe Biden is cruising to reelection if we don’t have the infrastructure necessary, with things such as voter registration, early voting, [and] legal ballot harvesting,” Millennial Republican activist Scott Presler told The Epoch Times in June.

Conservative activist Scott Presler after street cleanup event in Baltimore, Md., on Aug. 5, 2019. Courtesy of Scott Presler

Ms. McLaughlin suggested that a GOP that often seems starved for ideas could stand to gain from Mr. Ramaswamy’s vision.

“The Republican Party for a long time has talked about innovation and that we need to innovate in fundraising and bring new people into the Republican Party,” she said.

“If you like a candidate, you can get some skin in the game, too.”

The campaign’s announcement specifies that participants must adhere to Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations.

The FEC declined to comment to The Epoch Times on Mr. Ramaswamy’s plan.

Intensive Campaigning

Mr. Ramaswamy’s announcement comes as the July 15 quarterly filing deadline approaches.

It also comes after weeks of intensive campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire. Recent reporting from Axios indicates that Mr. Ramaswamy has outpaced his competitors with respect to campaign stops in those states.

A scene from the Porcupine Freedom Festival, or PorcFest, in Lancaster, N.H., on June 24, 2023. Vivek Ramaswamy was among the 2024 presidential hopefuls who spoke at the multi-day festival. Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times

Iowa is the first caucus in the Republican calendar, while New Hampshire will be the first Republican primary. On the Democrats’ side, South Carolina’s primary has been scheduled ahead of New Hampshire, historically the first in the nation for both parties.

Mr. Ramaswamy hopes to place first or second in the Granite State, according to Ms. McLaughlin.

The candidate has made bold pronouncements about what a New Hampshire victory would mean.

“If I win the New Hampshire Republican primary, I will be your next president,” he told a crowd at a libertarian festival in the state on June 24.