Ramaswamy says GOP competing against ‘machine,’ not candidate

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy contended the Republican Party is running against “a machine” in the 2024 election , which just saw President Joe Biden bow out of the presidential race.

Biden announced the suspension of his 2024 campaign in a statement on Sunday, giving his full endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris shortly afterward. Ramaswamy, who predicted last year that Biden would not be the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee, argued Republicans are in “a strong position” but warned they are not up against a specific candidate.

"I think the reality is we've got to avoid making the mistake of thinking that we're up against a candidate here,” Ramaswamy said on Benny Johnson’s YouTube channel. “We're not. We're up against a machine, and the more we see it that way, the more we understand what’s actually going on. I just had a good conversation with President Trump. I think his head is in the right place. I think the right answer is it doesn’t matter who they put out, right? We stand for our own vision of who we are and what we stand for, irrespective of the machine we’re up against."

Ramaswamy added that he would not attack Harris after Biden bowed out and encouraged others to follow suit because directing criticism to her will make the party look “unnecessarily insecure.” He said criticizing Harris is almost unneeded, noting her past campaign losses and how she did not make it to the 2020 Iowa caucuses.

Ramaswamy announced his candidacy in the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential primary in February 2023, bowing out and endorsing former President Donald Trump after the Iowa caucuses in January. During the November 2023 primary debate, Ramaswamy encouraged the Democratic Party to end its “farce” of Biden being the nominee, calling him “a puppet for the managerial class.”

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Harris has received multiple endorsements to take Biden's place atop the Democratic ticket, including from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). Fetterman was a vocal supporter of Biden even after the first presidential debate and pushed back against calls for the president to decide whether to step aside prior to Sunday.

Many Republican lawmakers have reacted to Biden dropping out of the race by saying he should also resign as president , arguing he cannot serve as president if he cannot continue his presidential campaign.