Vivek Ramaswamy teases role in Trump’s second administration: ‘Couple good opportunities’

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Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has teased a possible role in Donald Trump’s future cabinet, saying he has a “few good options” ahead of him.

The biotech CEO appeared on ABC’s This week on Sunday, when he was asked by Jonathan Karl if he wants to be part of another Trump administration, one that Trump’s transition team is believed to be crafting around political appointees who value loyalty to Trump above all else.

Ramaswamy was evasive about what role he might play, but confirmed he was having “high-impact discussions” about his way forward.

“There are a couple of good options on the table,” Ramaswamy said, as Karl mentioned both the soon-to-be-vacant Ohio Senate seat currently held by Vice President-elect JD Vance, as well as the position of director of Homeland Security. .

“I want to have the biggest possible impact on this country,” he added.

The two options suggested by Karl are widely believed to be the two prizes Ramaswamy is most likely to seek. He remained largely deferential to Trump during his presidential campaign and has clearly been keen on an alliance with the former president since January’s Iowa caucus results made it clear the former president would push his way to the nomination.

Ramaswamy, in his own campaign, concentrated resources on Iowa in an attempt to pull off an early surprise, one that would generate a snowball of support. It never materialized.

As director of the Department of Homeland Security, Ramaswamy would be responsible for executing and shaping the details of Trump’s immigration policy. The former president pledged over the summer to launch America’s first mass deportation program in the modern era, with the goal of removing one million immigrants living in the United States illegally if he is re-elected.

In Ohio, meanwhile, Ramaswamy may have a more direct path to building his own political star. His home state has turned increasingly red in recent election cycles, largely because Democrats at the DNC and elsewhere in Washington have written the state off as a lost cause in presidential campaigns. The party has also now lost two Senate races in Ohio in as many election cycles.

With Vance’s election to the vice presidency, his Ohio seat will become vacant in January, and the state’s Republican governor will fill it with an appointment. A special election will then be called in 2026 to determine who will finish Vance’s term.

As a senator, Ramaswamy could create his own political brand in the Senate, free from the burden of the prospect of being the face of Trump’s immigration and border control policies—among other duties—for years to come. But that, in turn, would require Ramaswamy to rebuild his fundraising apparatus to the point where he could defeat a Democratic candidate in 2026, though it’s questionable how competitive that race would even be.

One of the Republican Party’s few truly young national figures, Ramaswamy is better positioned than most to build his brand over the next four years.

Having never really emerged as a rival to the president-elect in the way that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis did during the primaries, Ramaswamy could very well end up in the limelight before long.