In a recent campaign trail clash, Republican gubernatorial contender Casey Putsch has taken aim at Vivek Ramaswamy, alleging that the wealthy entrepreneur accepted a $50,000 scholarship intended for underprivileged youth. This backlash follows Ramaswamy’s defense of the fellowship during a 2023 interview, which he deemed “free money,” despite his substantial earnings and his later stance against aid based on identity.
Casey Putsch, a YouTuber turned Republican gubernatorial candidate, has accused GOP leader Vivek Ramaswamy of taking scholarship money he allegedly did not need. In a post on X, Casey said that Ramaswamy “took $50k in college scholarship money for poor kids while he was making $750,000/year. Sounds like fraud to me.”Putsch has thrown his hat into the 2026 Ohio governor’s race. He has positioned himself as a challenger to Ramaswamy, who has already received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Putsch has framed H-1B visas and AI data centers as key issues for Ohio and said that H-1B visas hurt job prospects for young, native Americans while mainly benefiting big corporations. He has a MAGA-aligned platform, but some conservative circles remain cautious about backing him. The row around Ramaswamy goes back to a 2023 interview on The Mehdi Hasan Show, which has resurfaced and become viral amid the Ohio gubernatorial campaign. In the segment, Hasan confronted Ramaswamy, then a GOP presidential hopeful, about his acceptance of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a merit-based award worth up to $90,000. The fellowship is funded by billionaire George Soros’s brother and is intended for immigrants or children of immigrants. Hasan grilled Ramaswamy and said that the Ex-DOGE lead earned hundreds of thousands of dollars through hedge fund work during the same period. Tax records shown on air revealed incomes of $645,000 in 2009, $486,000 in 2010, and over $2 million in 2011. Hasan pressed Ramaswamy and said, “You accepted a Soros scholarship for $50,000 when you didn’t need it.” Ramaswamy defended it as a merit-based award and called it “free money.” However, Vivek was asked why he took the fellowship even though he later spoke against affirmative action and identity-based aid.
