Ross County — The local Republican party hosted Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP candidate for governor, in their 2025 Christmas Gala on Monday evening. The central Ohio entrepreneur and 2024 Republican primary presidential candidate spoke at the sold-out event at Bell Manor on December 8th, 2025.
Ramaswamy was delayed by an impromptu meeting with former Pixelle paper mill employees en route from a previous stop in Jackson County. After shaking hands and posing for photos at Bell Manor, he was introduced by State Representative Mark Johnson of House District 92.
Johnson also recalled the past leader of the Republican Women of Ross County, Connie Meyer, who died on November 19th – and Ross Correctional Institution officer Andrew Lansing, who was murdered almost a year before.
Ramaswamy said his appearance in Ross County was the end of his tour of all the counties in Ohio, since he did not want to campaign only in the center of the state.
He also explained that he committed to talk to any protestors at his appearances. At one event in Wayne County, he said he encountered a woman yelling that he planned to cut veterans benefits. Ramaswamy said this showed a failure of modern politics since he has no interest in doing so, and as governor would have no power to do so.
He described how he brought her in to the event, where she was acknowledged as the lone Vietnam vet…and she said she had changed her mind about him.
Ramaswamy briefly touched on Chillicothe’s loss of the paper mill, saying that we can’t bring back Ohio of 1950, but he wants Ohio of 2030 to represent the positivity of Ohio of 1950 to the world – with development of resources and workforces, improvement of education, and tax relief.
Hear samples of Ramaswamy’s speech below, as well as Representative Johnson’s introduction.
Gabe Guidarini, State Chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, was a guest speaker. Afterward, I asked him if he was a little young for getting into politics. He said no, there need to be more college-age and high-school-age people who are politically active, since they are the future of country and have an inherent stake in the future.
He said the Ohio College Republican Federation has been around for half a century, and has chapters in all the big universities as well as smaller colleges. Hear Guidarini in his own words below.
The event was scheduled opposite a Chillicothe Council session, where council president Kevin Shoemaker had announced that he anticipated a lack of quorum and a rescheduling to 5pm Wednesday.
Only two council members attended the session. The city auditor’s office also announced that a budget review would be at 4:30 Wednesday (later announced to be 4:00), then be released online. The nine-minute video is available on council’s Facebook page.
Connie Scott, chair of the Republican Women of Ross County, said that they did not want to schedule the event opposite a council session – but it was the only date that Ramaswamy was available.
