Ramaswamy: 2 issues cost Republicans votes on Tuesday

Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Tuesday that Republicans need to prioritize messages of affordability and avoid talking about “identity politics” if they want to win elections in the future.

Ramaswamy, a biotech engineer and former presidential candidate, outlined what he sees as two key takeaways for Republicans after Democrats triumphed in key races across the country on election night.

“We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City. Democrats swept all three. There's two key lessons for Republicans. Listen carefully,” the conservative media pundit said in a video posted to the social platform X.

“Number one, our side needs to focus on affordability. Make the American Dream affordable. Bring down costs — electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs — and lay out how we're going to do it,” he continued.

“And number two: Cut out the identity politics,” Ramaswamy said. “It doesn't suit Republicans. It's not for us. That's the woke left's game, not ours. We don't care about the color of your skin or your religion. We care about the content of your character. That's who we are.”

In governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey, voters elected former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), respectively. In New York City, residents voted for the Democratic nominee, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, now poised to be the first Muslim mayor of the nation's biggest city.

Though Spanberger and Sherrill campaigned from the moderate center and, Mamdani, from the progressive left, all three Democrats prioritized cost of living and affordability while talking to voters.

Mamdani remained focused on economic issues, even as some of his opponents at times made direct and indirect jabs at his religious identity. In the final days of his campaign, a group backing his opponent released an ad tying the mayor-elect to imagery of the 9/11 attack on the city. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the runner-up, also suggested late last month that Mamdani could not be trusted to lead the city if “God forbid, another 9/11” transpired.

Mamdani critics also frequently attacked the then-candidate for his position on Israel and the war in Gaza.