Vivek Ramaswamy asks why he should vote for presidential candidate ‘with least experience’ in resurfaced 2004 clip
A 20-year-old clip of Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy asking then Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Al Shapton why he should vote for him given his lack of “political experience” has resurfaced on social media.
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old political novice whose candidacy has come under attack by several of his 2024 rivals over his greeness when it comes to policymaking, even shared the clip Monday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and joked “it’s funny how the tables have turned.”
“Reverend, Hello. I’m Vivek and I wanna ask you, last week on the show we had Senator [John] Kerry, and this week and the week before, we had Senator [John] Edwards. And my question for you is, of all the Democratic candidates out there, why should I vote for the one with the least political experience?” Ramaswamy, then a Harvard University undergrad, asked Sharpton during an Oct. 27, 2003, townhall moderated by former MSNBC host Chris Matthews.
“Well, you shouldn’t, because I have the most political experience,” Sharpton fired back, eliciting laughter and applause from the student audience.
“Don’t confuse people that have a job with political experience,” the civil rights activist added.
Ramaswamy, who was 18-years-old at the time of his televised encounter with Sharpton, appeared satisfied with the Democratic presidential long-shot’s response, smiling and nodding his head as the crowd applauded.
“I’ll give the 18-year-old version of myself a pat-on-the-back for eliciting the most sensible words ever to come from that man’s mouth. 20 years later, it’s funny how the tables have turned,” Ramaswamy wrote in his tweet Monday, including a laughing emoji.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Ramaswamy’s lack of experience during the first GOP debate last week after accusing the entrepreneur and author of supporting foreign adversaries and wanting to abandon US allies.
“You have no foreign policy experience and it shows,” Haley said in an attack directed at Ramasamy.
Former Vice President Mike Pence also questioned Ramaswamy’s policy chops at several points during the Milwaukee forum.
“You got people on this stage that won’t even talk about issues like Social Security and Medicare. I mean, Vivek, you recently said a president can’t do everything,” Pence said. “Well, I got news for you, Vivek — I’ve been in a hallway, I’ve been in the West Wing. A president in the United States has to confront every crisis facing America.”
“Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad. Now is not the time for on-the-job training,” the former vice president argued in another barb aimed at the political newcomer.
“We don’t need to bring in a rookie,” he added. “We don’t need to bring in people without experience.”
Ramaswamy is polling at 7.5% nationally, according to a RealClearPolitics average of surveys, which puts him third place in the GOP primary race, behind former President Donald Trump (53%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (13%).
