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Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy issued a powerful response in solidarity with President Donald Trump on Tuesday night, just hours after the Colorado Supreme Court inexplicably ruled to remove the 45th president from their 2024 ballot.
Ramaswamy, who is also running in the Republican primary as a presidential candidate, posted a video on X explaining his response.
He supplemented with a written explanation, noting, “I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country.”
His words were pointed and direct – presenting a challenge to Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was disqualified to appear on the state’s ballot next year based on allegations of having engaged in an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021.
The court leaned heavily on the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution in this ruling. In their decision, the court directed Colorado’s Secretary of State to exclude Trump from the presidential primary ballot.
Ramaswamy’s call for Republican solidarity and unity seems to have spurred the Colorado Republican Party to take action, as well.
Their official account responded to the businessman’s statement that he would withdraw from the ballot on X, writing, “You won’t have to because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.”
This is a promising sign for President Trump. However, his campaign noted almost immediately after the ruling came down that they would be appealing the decision, therefore sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tuesday’s Colorado court decision has been largely panned by conservatives and proponents of free and fair elections. President Trump on Truth Social called it a “SAD DAY IN AMERICA!!!”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., derided the legal ruling as “nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack” and added that he trusted the U.S. Supreme Court to “set aside this reckless decision and let the American people decide the next President of the United States.”
At this time, neither Nikki Haley nor Gov. DeSantis have made a comment on whether they will stand in solidarity with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in response to Ramaswamy’s call to unity.
Gov. DeSantis issued a statement on Tuesday night criticizing what presumably is the Colorado court decision. He noted that “SCOTUS should reverse,” but he did not use President Trump’s name nor did he specifically cite the Colorado ruling.
