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By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
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Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign removed a batting-cage video from Instagram after it drew widespread online mockery on Wednesday, although the clip remained available on the Republican candidate’s TikTok account as of September 10.
Ramaswamy’s brief campaign stunt has become an unwelcome distraction in one of the country’s closest gubernatorial contests.
One clip of the batting cage video, posted by CNN senior politics reporter Andrew Kaczynski, had been viewed more than 3.2 million times on social media platform X at the time of writing.
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Ohio voters are choosing between Ramaswamy, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, and Democrat Amy Acton, with recent surveys showing neither candidate holding a decisive advantage.
Newsweek contacted Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment via email on Thursday morning and is awaiting a response.
Key Points
- Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ramaswamy removed a campaign video from Instagram showing him swinging at pitches while presenting policy promises.
- The advertisement became the subject of widespread ridicule over the candidate’s batting form after also appearing on TikTok.
- Ramaswamy's campaign has used the same "10 Things I’ll Do for Ohio" format in several sports-themed videos.
- Recent polls show a close contest with Acton, while two prediction markets currently give her a narrow advantage.
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Why It Matters
Ramaswamy intended the video to package a list of policy commitments in an upbeat, accessible format, but discussion quickly shifted from those proposals to the staging and editing.
The video's removal now gives opponents and commentators an opening to question the campaign’s political judgment while the race remains closely divided.
A Campaign Pitch Becomes the Story
The video showed Ramaswamy inside a batting cage promising "10 things" that would be done for Ohio as pitches arrived from a machine. Each pledge was paired with a swing.
It is a format the Republican has used before in campaign video material, with a previous TikTok clip still available on his verified account showing him delivering the same 10-point pitch while throwing darts at balloons at a fairground game.
A tennis version also remained available on both Instagram and TikTok as of September 10, showing Ramaswamy delivering the policy pitch between shots on an outdoor court.
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However, his latest batting cage stunt drew mockery online, with viewers circulating clips criticizing the candidate’s technique.
Journalists, strategists and other political figures joined the reaction across X, TikTok and Instagram, turning the campaign’s visual metaphor into the central point of discussion.
Reacting to the clip in a short rebuttal video, Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania wrote on X: "If we don’t do something about Vivek Ramaswamy’s private equity friends jacking up the cost of youth sports, American kids will grow up thinking that’s how you hit a baseball."
"My toddler has better swing mechanics than Vivek Ramaswamy," posted X user Mike Coté.
"Ramaswamy is a very solid tennis player, and this ad would have worked perfectly well with him hitting tennis shots," The Wisdom of Crowds author James Surowiecki wrote.
"But I guess they assumed tennis would look too fancy, so instead they had him swing a bat, even though he does it like an uncoordinated 6-yr-old."
The clip had disappeared from Ramaswamy’s official Instagram accounts by Wednesday evening but remained live on TikTok. No direct explanation from the campaign for its removal has been given.
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Where the Ohio Governor Race Stands: Polls, Markets And Forecasts
Polling points to a genuine toss-up. The RealClearPolitics average covering surveys conducted from June 14 through August 10 placed Amy Acton at 47.3 percent and Vivek Ramaswamy at 47 percent, an advantage of three-tenths of a point.
A Fox News poll conducted August 6 through August 10 among 1,008 registered Ohio voters found Ramaswamy leading 50 percent to 48 percent. The survey, jointly directed by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, carried a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The New York Times/Siena College survey conducted June 15 through June 28 found the candidates tied at 47 percent among 601 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 points.
A Fabrizio Ward/Impact Research poll conducted June 14 through June 16 put Amy Acton ahead 47 percent to 44 percent among 800 likely voters, with a 3.5-point margin of error.
Markets lean more clearly toward the Democrat, although their prices reflect trading activity rather than representative samples of voters.
At the time of writing, Polymarket priced Acton at 56 percent and Vivek Ramaswamy at 46 percent, with about $196,838 traded.
Kalshi listed Acton at 56 percent and Vivek Ramaswamy at 45 percent, with approximately $1.57 million in volume.
Forecasters are less uniform: Cook Political Report’s rating was Toss Up, while Sabato’s Crystal Ball was Lean Republican at the time of writing.
What Happens Next
For Ramaswamy, the next question is whether the episode fades as another fleeting social-media spectacle or follows the campaign into a race where small shifts may matter.
Historical precedent suggests that campaign controversies can matter in tight races, but their polling effects are rarely immediate or permanent. In Virginia in 2019, for example, then-Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s approval rating fell from 59 percent in December to 40 percent by March after a blackface scandal, although his numbers later recovered as the controversy receded from the headlines.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sam Stevenson and James Debens
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