Vivek Ramaswamy posted a campaign video in which he swings a bat in a batting cage after listing "ten things I'm gonna do for Ohio," prompting mockery for his form. James Surowiecki suggested a tennis-themed ad would have been a better fit and Ramaswamy's social pages do include a tennis version. Democrats including David Pepper and Rep. Chris Deluzio used the clip to criticize Ramaswamy's early biotech dealings and private equity ties; Axovant bought an experimental drug for $5M in 2014 and raised $315M in a 2015 IPO before enrolling trial patients.
Vivek Ramaswamy's Batting-Cage Ad Gets Roasted Online — Critics Mock His Swing, Opponents Seize the Moment
Screenshot via @vivekgramaswamy on Instagram
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy faced widespread online ridicule after posting a short campaign video showing him taking swings in a batting cage. The clip, shared on his TikTok and Instagram accounts, features Ramaswamy listing "ten things I'm gonna do for Ohio" — and swinging at a ball from an automatic pitching machine after each pledge.
Observers quickly seized on the juxtaposition of policy pledges and awkward batting mechanics. James Surowiecki, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, wrote on X that while Ramaswamy "is a very solid tennis player," the campaign chose baseball for the widely circulated edit — a choice Surowiecki said backfired because Ramaswamy "does it like an uncoordinated 6-yr-old." Notably, the campaign's social pages also include an alternate, tennis-themed version of the spot.
"Ramaswamy is a very solid tennis player, and this ad would have worked perfectly well with him hitting tennis shots. But I guess they assumed tennis would look too fancy, so instead they had him swing a bat, even though he does it like an uncoordinated 6-yr-old." — James Surowiecki on X
Democratic critics quickly used the moment for political attacks. David Pepper, the Democrat running for Ohio lieutenant governor, posted on X: "If you think Vivek's baseball swing is atrocious, wait til you see the disturbing way he first made his millions…" Pepper was referring to Ramaswamy's early biotech work.
In 2014, Axovant Sciences — a company associated with Ramaswamy — acquired rights to an experimental Alzheimer's compound from GlaxoSmithKline for $5 million and rebranded it RVT-101. Axovant went public in 2015, raising about $315 million in what was then the largest U.S. biotech IPO, despite not having enrolled a single patient in the planned trial at the time.
Representative Chris Deluzio (D-PA) also used the clip to broaden the criticism, suggesting that rising youth-sports costs driven by private equity could distort how children learn sports: "If we don't do something about @VivekGRamaswamy's private equity friends jacking up the cost of youth sports, American kids will grow up thinking that's how you hit a baseball."
The video drew a mix of mockery and political commentary, with opponents combining ridicule of the candidate's batting form and attacks tied to his business past. The original post and alternate tennis version remain available on Ramaswamy's social channels.
Original report first appeared on Mediaite.
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