THE VIVEK FILES / FILE 002

The Billionaires Trying to Buy Ohio

Vivek Ramaswamy and five billionaire V-PAC donors: Jeff Yass, Ross Stevens, Elon Musk, Ratmir Timashev and William Ackman, with their disclosed contributions

Thanks to billionaire brazenness and solid reporting we know the identity of the wealthy donors who are funding Ramaswamy’s deceitful campaign:

So, Why are the ultra-rich trying to buy Ohio?

Here’s what the Files reveal…

Federal filings show that five billionaires supplied $37 million of the nearly $41.8 million V-PAC raised through June 30, 2026—about 89 cents of every disclosed dollar. None of those five donors listed an Ohio address.

Jeff Yass contributed $20 million through June 30; Ross Stevens, $6 million; Elon Musk and Ratmir Timashev, $5 million each; and William Ackman, $1 million. Later reporting said Yass provided at least another $10 million, bringing his reported total to at least $30 million and the five billionaires' combined support to at least $47 million.

Ramaswamy has also used his own fortune to finance his campaign. Public campaign-finance data show roughly $30 million in contributions connected to Ramaswamy, most of it structured as personal loans to his campaign.

Important: A contribution does not, by itself, prove a quid pro quo. But when so much campaign money comes from so few people with major policy and business interests, Ohioans have every right to ask what those donors expect from a Ramaswamy administration.

Why the super PAC matters

Ohio law limits what an individual or PAC can give directly to a statewide candidate in each election period. V-PAC, by contrast, is an outside super PAC that may accept unlimited contributions, although it may not legally coordinate its spending with Ramaswamy's campaign. That is how a single billionaire can spend millions to influence an Ohio election.

AT LEAST $30 MILLION REPORTED

Jeff Yass

Yass is a founder of Susquehanna International Group, a major investor in TikTok's parent company and one of the nation's most aggressive political funders. His defining political cause is taxpayer-funded private-school vouchers. Ramaswamy calls universal school choice the “civil-rights issue of our time” and supports Ohio's universal voucher system—giving Yass a powerful reason to want an ally in the governor's office.

$6 MILLION

Ross Stevens

Stevens founded Stone Ridge and NYDIG, a company built around expanding institutional investment in Bitcoin. He gave V-PAC $5 million in 2025 and another $1 million in May 2026. Ramaswamy has championed cryptocurrency and backed proposals to place Bitcoin in public treasuries. A crypto-friendly governor could help normalize and expand the market on which Stevens built his business.

$5 MILLION

Elon Musk

Musk contributed $5 million on May 8, 2026. His companies span artificial intelligence, data centers, energy, autonomous vehicles, satellites and government space contracts—all industries shaped by tax, energy, infrastructure and regulatory policy. He and Ramaswamy were selected to lead the federal DOGE effort, and they share a sweeping anti-regulation political agenda.

$5 MILLION

Ratmir Timashev

The Ohio State graduate and Veeam Software founder launched OH.io Ventures with a reported plan to invest $100 million and recruit 100 artificial-intelligence companies to Columbus. That ambition depends on an Ohio government friendly to AI infrastructure, data-center development and the energy systems that power them.

$1 MILLION

William Ackman

Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, is not a newcomer to Ramaswamy's political and business network. He invested in the 2022 launch of Ramaswamy's Strive Asset Management and previously gave $250,000 to the super PAC supporting Ramaswamy's presidential campaign. The two share an anti-ESG, “shareholder first” view of corporate power.

These donors did not randomly choose an Ohio candidate. Their political and financial interests line up with Ramaswamy's agenda.

Privatize public education

Yass has spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting vouchers and other programs that redirect public funds to private schools. Ramaswamy has made expanded school choice part of his governing vision.

Open Ohio to AI, crypto and data-center interests

Musk, Stevens and Timashev all have direct financial stakes in industries that need enormous computing capacity, favorable energy policy, public infrastructure and light regulation.

Cut taxes and weaken regulation

Ramaswamy's politics mirror the low-tax, anti-regulation and anti-ESG agenda favored by the financiers and technology executives backing him.

The question is not whether these billionaires are allowed to spend their money. The question is whether Ohio's next governor will answer to Ohio families—or to the small circle of wealthy donors financing his rise.

Sources & Documentation

Contribution totals on this page reflect disclosed federal and state campaign-finance data and cited reporting available when this file was published.