WATCH: Vivek Ramaswamy Lies About Plan to Shut Down Ohio Colleges & Universities After Backlash From His Own Party

WATCH: Vivek Ramaswamy Lies About Plan to Shut Down Ohio Colleges & Universities After Backlash From His Own Party

July 21, 2026

Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from WEWS' Morgan Trau caught Vivek Ramaswamy desperately lying about his plan to shut down Ohio colleges and universities to fund his extreme income tax scam.

WATCH THE CLIP HERE:

"In the spring, Ramaswamy posted a video to social media and wrote an article encouraging the state to shut down what he called struggling universities. He called out Cleveland State, University of Akron, Kent, and Central State University as problem colleges. He tripled down on that idea at a Turning Point USA event in April. 'I don't think you should be funding subpar universities.'"

Students, university presidents, and even Republicans including Governor Mike DeWine and State Sen. Jerry Cirino pushed back on Ramaswamy's idea. DeWine said: "I'm not in favor of consolidating our colleges or doing away with any of our 14 public universities. It's important to have them all over the state so frankly, people who can't afford to live at the college and pay room and board, they can commute. We still have commuters." When asked about Ramaswamy's proposal, Cirino said, "I don't know how much he knows about how higher education works."

"Con man Vivek Ramaswamy is lying again because he knows shutting down colleges and universities is deeply unpopular with Ohioans, just like the rest of his costly and out-of-touch policy scams," said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. "Ohioans know they can't afford Vivek Ramaswamy's schemes and they can't trust him to stand up for their communities - he's only out for himself."

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