Vivek Ramaswamy crowdsources campaign funding as critics make pyramid scheme comparison
Being a backer of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign could be quite profitable for those willing to help him rake in the dough.
The 37-year-old rolled out a new initiative Monday dubbed “Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet,” in which supporters who help raise funds for his White House bid will earn 10% of whatever amount they bring in.
Ramaswamy billed the endeavor as a means of empowering everyday people as his campaign strives for a small-dollar fundraising bonanza.
“A small oligopoly of political fundraisers is already making an ungodly amount of $$ on this election. It’s disgusting. I’m breaking up that cartel,” Ramaswamy tweeted alongside an announcement video.
“If someone else is getting rich on this, it might as well be you. Let’s go!”
Participants must comply with Federal Election Commission rules, undergo a background check, and fill out a 1099 form, which means they will operate as independent contractors.
A bevy of campaigns have encouraged backers, particularly wealthy ones, to push their friends to donate, but Ramaswamy’s idea of a 10% referral cut for everyone appears to be novel.
Not everyone was impressed with the idea, with some critics comparing it to a multi-level marketing scheme.
“Good grief. Vivek is now setting up pyramid schemes right out in the open,” conservative lawyer Heath Mayo tweeted. “Also, there is not a ‘small oligopoly of political fundraisers’—they are a dime a dozen. He’s just making things up as he goes.”
“Did he learn this trick from Bernie Madoff?” asked Josh Hammer, a Newsweek senior editor-at-large.
“The lawyer in me just had a f—ing aneurysm,” another user wrote.
“So he’s going to pay random people to cold call, mass text, and send out spam emails?” wrote Yesh Ginsburg. “Look, it’s an ‘idea’ that makes him seem unique, but practically speaking the people who get money from him on this will be those who already are good at fundraising. This is silly.”
The Ramaswamy campaign told The New York Post, it reached more than 60,000 unique donors, exceeding the 40,000 donor threshold needed to qualify for the first Republican debate, to be held Aug. 23 in Milwaukee.
That threshold will likely rise to 50,000 for the September debate in California and to 60,000 for an October debate in Alabama, Axios reported.
Additionally, hopefuls must take a pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee and hit at least 1% in three national polls approved by the RNC or 1% in two early states as well as 1% in two national polls to make it to the first debate stage.
Ramaswamy is hovering in seventh place with an average of 2.4% support nationally, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polling.
Back in April, he touted a roughly $9.4 million war chest, buoyed by a multimillion loan he gave to his campaign.
