DeSantis Says Ramaswamy’s Comments “Out of Bounds”

(RepublicanNews.org) – At the third Republican presidential debate last week, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy brought up fellow candidate Nikki Haley’s teenage daughter, prompting criticism from Haley herself, as well as from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

During the debate on November 8th, Ramaswamy brought up that Haley had criticized his usage of TikTok, an app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance. Ramaswamy pointed out that Haley’s teenage daughter has an account on TikTok, suggesting that she should “take care of [her] family first” before criticizing other Americans for using the app. The former United Nations Ambassador snapped back, calling Ramaswamy “scum” and saying he should not bring up her daughter. The audience at the debate booed at the exchange, seemingly critical of Ramaswamy’s comments.

In an interview the next day, fellow candidate Gov. DeSantis said that the children of candidates are “out of bounds” and called the comment inappropriate. DeSantis has three young children while Ramaswamy has two.

DeSantis is currently in second place among Republican candidates in the polls, trailing behind former President Trump. According to the latest polls, DeSantis holds support from 14% of Republicans, while Haley holds 9% and Ramaswamy trails at 5%.

After the debate, Ramaswamy doubled down on his comments. The entrepreneur has said that he’s using TikTok to reach younger voters, who historically lean Democrat. Ramaswamy has criticized other Republican candidates for refusing to use the app due to it being owned by a Chinese company but highlighted their hypocrisy for utilizing American-owned apps that sell consumer data to China. Ramaswamy said the Republicans who refuse to use TikTok are doing a “disservice” to young people by refusing to engage with them where they are.

The next Republican presidential debate is planned for Wednesday, December 6th. In order to qualify for the debate, candidates must receive at least 6% of support in two national polls and have at least 80,000 unique donors. They also need at least 200 donors from 20 or more states.