Ramaswamy says campaign will ‘overperform expectations’ in early primary states

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he expects to “overperform expectations” in the first two primary contests, even as he remains behind most of the GOP field.

Ramaswamy touted his Iowa effort on NewsNation’s The Hill on Monday, saying he has “a good shot at winning Iowa” and is focusing on states beyond Iowa and New Hampshire in the GOP nominating calendar.

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“I think there’s a lot of states we’re going to win, but I think you’re going to shatter expectations in Iowa — I think we have a good shot at winning Iowa,” Ramaswamy said. “Then you look ahead to states like Nevada and other states that other candidates haven’t focused on, I think we have a great shot to win those states too.”

Ramaswamy also said he plans to visit all 99 counties in Iowa twice over by early January after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) achieved the feat last week. He claimed his campaign has garnered several first-time caucus participants and that the results in Iowa will be a surprise as he shatters “what the polls say.”

The entrepreneur said he expects to do well in New Hampshire but admitted South Carolina would be difficult.

“To be crystal clear, I think we’re going to overperform expectations in each of both Iowa and New Hampshire, then I think we have a shot at winning Nevada,” Ramaswamy said. “South Carolina, admittedly, is a difficult state. You have a lot of others who have been there, Nikki Haley, who is from there, Donald Trump, and elsewhere.

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“So that is not a focal part of our strategy, to win that state, but remember, Nevada comes before South Carolina,” he added. “And then when we get to the midwest, in Michigan and elsewhere, I think going to do really well.”

Ramaswamy is one of the four candidates participating in the fourth GOP presidential debate on Wednesday. DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will join him on the debate stage. Former President Donald Trump has opted to skip the debate, as he did with the first three.