Democratic critics call the spending out of touch; Ramaswamy campaign says candidate personally covered costs to visit all 88 Ohio counties efficiently.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Campaign finance records filed with the Ohio Secretary of State show that Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign spent $469,885.45 on aircraft leasing and $312,264.21 on costs associated with flying his own jet in 2025, for a total of $782,149.66 on private air travel.
The campaign’s total expenditures for the year were $7,126,693.93, meaning private jet travel accounted for approximately 10.97% of spending, according to an analysis by Heartland Signal published Feb. 12, 2026.
Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, is seeking the GOP nomination for Ohio governor in the May 2026 primary. His campaign has raised a record $19.8 million in 2025 from more than 88,000 unique donors (average contribution $76), not including his personal contributions.
Campaign response on jet spending
A Ramaswamy spokesperson told Heartland Signal that the candidate personally owns the aircraft and that the campaign leases it at market rates to comply with federal and state law. “No donor funds were used for these expenses — Vivek personally loaned the campaign money to cover every dollar paid to lease the airplane for the campaign,” the spokesperson said. The campaign has described the plane as a tool to efficiently reach voters across all 88 counties.
Mainstream outlets have reported similar figures. The Columbus Dispatch noted nearly $400,000 paid to V Leasing LLC for an aircraft lease as part of the $7.1 million total spent in 2025, with the campaign confirming Ramaswamy reimbursed the campaign personally. Cleveland.com reported roughly $513,000 in campaign-related private jet trips (covered by personal loans) plus more than $312,000 in chartered corporate jet flights.
Comparison to Sen. Bernie Sanders
Heartland Signal’s review of federal filings found that Ramaswamy’s private-jet spending in Ohio exceeded by $10,721.97 the amount Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spent on all air travel (public and private) during his 2025 “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which visited 29 cities nationwide. Sanders’ campaign has faced separate scrutiny for private-jet use during that tour, with some reports citing hundreds of thousands of dollars in related air travel costs.
Ramaswamy’s public statements cited by critics
The spending drew renewed criticism from Democrats, who pointed to several of Ramaswamy’s earlier comments:
• In a December 2024 X post, he wrote that top tech companies hire many foreign-born and first-generation engineers because “our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence.”
• At a November 2025 food-bank event in Dayton, when asked about combating childhood hunger, Ramaswamy emphasized literacy. In a follow-up X post, he highlighted the importance of children learning to read proficiently by third grade to avoid poverty later in life. Critics characterized the remarks as suggesting that teaching children to “read faster” was a primary solution to hunger.
• Ramaswamy has repeatedly said the best way for Ohioans to address rising costs is to increase take-home pay, which he proposes to achieve in part by slashing property and income taxes.
Broader context
Republicans have held the Ohio governorship and legislative majorities since 2011. Assessments of the state’s education performance during that period vary by metric and source. Some analyses and partisan critiques cite declines in certain national rankings, while others note that apparent drops partly reflect changes in how rankings are calculated and that Ohio’s K-12 standing has remained roughly in the middle of states in several longstanding assessments.
The 2026 gubernatorial race is already on track to be one of the most expensive in Ohio history. Cook Political Report currently rates the general election as “Likely Republican.”
