Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 bid for president might be a long shot but the wealthy “anti-woke” entrepreneur is expected to invigorate national debate around the precept of investing based on environmental, social, and corporate governance or ESG.
The financial strategy, which Republicans call “woke capitalism” because it makes climate change and social issues a priority, has been thrust into the culture-war spotlight with conservatives combatting ESG-embracing Wall Street institutions.
Mr. Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old Indian American who has announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, co-founded an asset management firm last year in hopes of becoming the premier haven for red states that are giving the boot to pro-ESG investment behemoths like BlackRock.
“We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis. Faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in a campaign video. “Wokism, climatism and gender ideology have replaced them.”
He is the third candidate to enter the 2024 White House race, joining former President Donald Trump and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
With the backing of GOP megadonor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Mr. Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management last year. The firm’s stated goal is to “offer everyday Americans a way to invest in the stock market without mixing business with politics.”
Though there is little mention of ESG on the company’s website, Mr. Ramaswamy is anything but shy about making his position clear. He’s said on Twitter that he wants the U.S. to “abandon climate religion,” which he later told Fox News host Tucker Carlson is “completely shackling the economy and culture.”
The anti-ESG movement erupted last year when Republican officials in states across the country began pulling public pension funds worth billions of dollars from pro-ESG investment firms and banks such as BlackRock, Vanguard and Wells Fargo. They accused the institutions of putting politics above their fiduciary responsibilities. The states cumulatively divested more than $4 billion from BlackRock last year.
Mr. Ramaswamy, the author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” has received praise from ESG critics, including GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“This is how deep this infection goes: it’s infiltrated even the capital markets that are supposed to bring discipline to the corporate boardroom and instead are bringing a different kind of religion,” Mr. Ramaswamy said on an episode of Mr. Crenshaw’s podcast. “It’s not a discipline based on financial performance, which is what everyday pensioners and retirees and savers expect would be done with their money, but instead is bringing this new orthodoxy.”
Finance firms that engage in ESG reject the notion they’re jeopardizing clients’ money or have boycotted fossil fuel investments. Companies like BlackRock tout their large sums of investments in public energy companies and argue their work in ESG better safeguards the long-term viability of returns by considering risk factors like climate change.
Still, Mr. Ramaswamy’s candidacy will help keep the issue at the forefront for Republicans.
“The fundamental critique of ESG, both on the right and the left, is that there’s this historic concentration of capital in the hands of a small group of investors,” he told Axios earlier this month. “Bernie Sanders has said as much, and I’ve said as much.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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