On Wednesday night, The Iowa Standard attended a debate watch party in Sioux City hosted by Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign. We had previously attended a debate watch party where a representative of Never Back Down was present and provided information on Ron DeSantis’ candidacy.
We talked with a voter in Sioux City on Wednesday who said he was a Trump supporter in the past and isn’t necessarily pulling back his support for Trump, but is planning to caucus for Ramaswamy.
Vivek’s “youth and fire” are what appeal to Greg the most.
“And he’s been successful in business and I am business-oriented myself and that’s what I liked about Trump,” he said. “And you know what the other thing is, I like that he doesn’t trash Trump. I think that’s important. You start trashing your competition, I’ve never seen that work out well in business or in any other part of life.”
Budgetary issues are extremely important to Greg, who said he supports Ramaswamy’s idea of zero-based budgeting. Immigration is another key issue.
“We were fighting to spend $5 billion for a border wall, but now we’re spending $500 billion to take care of all the people we let in? It just doesn’t make any sense,” Greg said. “What he says makes sense to me. I hope he has a future in politics. This may not be his time frankly, but I’m going to support him as much as I can.”
So, why Ramaswamy instead of Trump?
“I don’t know that I’ve moved on (from Trump),” Greg said. “I think at this point I’m trying to support the little guy because I see his future. I don’t even think this is the time. I see the momentum with Vivek where he is going. And I think if he sticks with it, he will have a future — something in politics that will be beneficial to us and our kids.”
At a previous event, Greg said he and his children sat next to Ramaswamy’s wife, Apoorva. They had a chance to interact directly with Ramaswamy.
“In Iowa, I don’t know if Trump will actually win Iowa, but I’m going to let him do his own thing in Iowa,” Greg said. “But I’ll caucus for Vivek.”
Initially, Greg acknowledged he struggled to trust Ramaswamy, but
“Watching him interact with his wife and his kids because I’ve been there, I’ve done that,” Greg said. “You can tell a lot about a man in how he reacts to his kids or doesn’t react. Or reacts to his wife or doesn’t react. And I feel like that got me over some of the stuff you hear.”
