MAGA Candidate Suffers Brutal Campaign Moment on Camera
Vivek Ramaswamy invited a “military kid” onstage, hoping for a picture-perfect campaign moment. Things did not go as planned.
Ohio’s MAGA gubernatorial candidate suffered a brutal humiliation in front of voters Saturday when he tried—and failed—to pull off the classic politician move of kissing a baby.
Vivek Ramaswamy was working the crowd at a campaign event in Vandalia, Ohio, when he spotted a child holding a sign that read, according to Ramaswamy, “My dad is deployed—proud military kid for Trump.”
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy waves to supporters in Vandalia, Ohio, on Oct. 3, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The 10-year-old boy was exactly the kind of young voter a MAGA ally would want to spotlight at a Trump rally: a military kid, a Trump supporter, and an easy opportunity for a candidate to play up his patriotism.
So Ramaswamy invited the child onstage. Then he decided to take things one step further.
“I’m going to pick you up,” he told the boy.
Ramaswamy’s first mistake was deciding that a 10-year-old was still within the acceptable weight range for the politician’s traditional baby-hoisting photo op.
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His second mistake was actually trying to pick him up.
The candidate managed to raise the child a few inches off the ground before appearing to lose his grip.
Ramaswamy may have overestimated his arm strength.
The Washington Post/Arden S. Barnes/The Washington Post/Getty Images
“Whoa!” Ramaswamy exclaimed as he struggled to hold the youngster and nearly lost his grip. After regaining control, he added, “Big guy!”
The moment lasted only a few seconds—more than long enough for the candidate’s critics to turn it into a campaign highlight.
“Absolutely brutal video: Terrible decision, terrible execution,” politics writer Nick Field wrote on X. “This type of video haunts a candidate forever.”
Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko simply responded, “Good God.”
Veteran journalist Sam Stein had an equally concise reaction: “Oh man.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) responded to the clip with laughter, while liberal commentator Majid M. Padellan called the incident “pathetic.”
The latest viral mishap comes just weeks after Ramaswamy was mocked online over another attempt to manufacture a made-for-social-media campaign moment.
In September, the former presidential candidate, 41, posted a video of himself taking swings in a batting cage while laying out “10 things” he would do as Ohio governor.
The footage quickly became an online punchline, with critics mocking his swing and questioning why his campaign had chosen to share the video at all. His team subsequently removed it from Instagram, although it remained on TikTok for some time.
Now Ramaswamy has another campaign video to explain, or attempt to bury.
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