Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the 2023 First in the Nation Leadership Summit on Oct. 13 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said Tuesday that he expects his campaign to deliver a "surprise result" during the Iowa caucuses in 2024.
Driving the news: "If not an outright victory, I think we have a good shot at an outright victory, something close to it," Ramaswamy told Axios during a sit-down interview. "A solid second or third in Iowa," he added.
- A second or third-place finish in the first-in-the-nation caucuses, set to take place on Jan. 15, will "over-perform the expectation that we have going in," Ramaswamy added.
Between the lines: Ramaswamy, who experienced a bump in polls following the first GOP primary debate, averages over 5% support in the national polls, putting him at about fourth, according to FiveThirtyEight.
- He also averages about 5% in early Iowa polls, according to FiveThirtyEight, which has him in fifth as of Oct. 24.
Zoom in: Ramaswamy, the youngest candidate in the GOP field, has sought to appeal to younger voters, including by joining TikTok in part in an effort to reach the crucial voting bloc.
- "The reason I say that is the polls aren't capturing the people who come to our events ... disproportionately, we are drawing people who have never participated in a caucus," he said.
Flashback: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) won the Republican Iowa caucuses in 2016 and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) won them in 2012 — both by thin margins — but neither ended up winning the GOP nomination.
- "I think I'm ahead of where Rick Santorum was when he won the Iowa caucus," Ramaswamy said Tuesday.
- "Now in his case, he was unprepared to go forward in future states like New Hampshire or otherwise," he said.