Ramaswamy will withdraw from Doge and run for the office of governor in Ohio

The advisory group called Department of Government Efficiency loses one of its leaders before it even started.

Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President Trump appointed Elon Musk as co-manager of the initiative in November, will leave the project because he wants to run for the office of Ohio.

“Vivek Ramaswamy played a crucial role in the founding of Doge,” said Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the White House, and added: “We thank him very much for his contributions in the past two months and expect him to have a decisive role plays in the creation. “America is great again!”

The position of Mr. Ramaswamy in the area of ​​influence of Mr. Trump has been unsure for weeks because he has upset the president, several consultants from Mr. Trump and above all Mr. Musk. Mr. Musk sharply criticized Mr. Ramaswamy in private conversations.

According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly, Mr. Ramaswamy plans to announce his candidacy for the governor of Ohio next week.

Mr. Trump announced the two billionaires as co-managers of the project, but it was an unequal partnership from the start. Mr. Musk has a much greater fortune and a higher level of awareness, and a lieutenant from Mr. Musk, Steve Davis, largely heads the project.

Until recently, some allies of Mr. Ramaswamy insisted that he would not give up his position immediately. Mr. Ramaswamy said to others in his environment that he would only start an application in Ohio much later in 2025, and therefore worked on a campaign for the governor’s office, even though he was still a partner of Musk on the project.

But Mr. Ramaswamy gave the idea of ​​leading the efficiency efforts together and at the same time running for an office, recently to be unenforceable, said the person familiar with the matter. The governor’s seat is available in November 2026, and the officers of the consultant group are expected to make recommendations to reduce federal expenses by July 4, 2026.

The decision was made after governor Mike Dewine from Ohio announced that Vicegouseur Jon Husted would fill the Senate seat that has become free by Vice President JD Vance. Mr. Ramaswamy was also a candidate for the vacancy, and Mr. Trump recently told him that he would go well with him.

This was also followed by Mr. Ramaswamy’s statements in which he blamed an American culture that “mediocrity instead of excellence” was responsible for the fact that top -time technology companies often hire engineers born abroad. People who are close to Mr. Trump said that he was dissatisfied that Mr. Ramaswamy interfered in the online debate via H-1b visa among conservatives, many of whom Ramaswamy’s statements regarded as critical of American workers.

Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is not an official government agency. In November, Mr. Trump said that the company would give external advice on the expenditure cut and work closely with the budget officials of the White House.

Mr. Musk arrived in Washington in the inauguration of Mr. Trump and was seen on Sunday afternoon in the SpaceX headquarters in the city center of Washington, where the majority of Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy are active. Mr. Ramaswamy is also for the inauguration of Mr. Trump in Washington.

Mr. Ramaswamy enthusiastically merged his brand with that of the project. He changed his biography to Mr. Musk’s social media platform X in “Crusaders of small governments” and shared an image of himself on the beach, as he reports of the congressional budget office about possibilities for reducing the deficit.

In November, Mr. Trump initially said that the “Great Elon Musk” would work with the “American patriot Vivek Ramaswamy” on the project. “Together, these two wonderful Americans of my government will pave the way to reduce government bureaucracy, to abolish excessive regulations, to shorten wasteful expenses and to restructure federal authorities,” he said at the time.

On Monday morning, Mr. Ramaswamy published a message on X with the inscription “A new morning” together with a photo of him and Mr. Musk.