Atlanta: Indian-American millionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who was once a rival of former president Donald Trump, has said though he has not been asked, he would be "honoured" to serve in the Trump administration as his running mate.
Ramaswamy, however, made it clear that he has not been approached by the Trump Campaign.
Ramaswamy, 38, dropped out of the 2024 Republican Party presidential race in January after a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses and endorsed Trump. Previously, some US media reported that Ramaswamy could be among the frontrunners.
Virtually unknown before he announced his run for president, Ramaswamy rose to third place in national polls over the summer, amid a slew of appearances on cable news.
While talking to reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the Biden-Trump Presidential debate in Atlanta, the biotech entrepreneur said, "I think one of the things about Donald Trump, I have seen in him and that doesn't really come across on television is that he is more ambitious for the second term, to be even more successful than the first term." Asked about the possibility of being elected as Vice-President on behalf of the Republican Party, Ramaswamy said he hasn't been asked but would be "honoured" to serve in a Trump administration.
"We've had a lot of conversations about the future. He has not asked me to be his Vice President, whoever he asks is going to have a remarkable ability to serve this country and take that America first agenda even further," he said.
Thursday's feisty debate that lasted roughly 90 minutes was the first of the three presidential debates between the 81-year-old President Biden and 78-year-old Trump ahead of the November 5 election.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the Biden-Trump presidential debate was about "electing the leader of the free world" and will have an impact around the globe.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the debate, Newsom, a Democrat, said, "It has an impact around the globe. It will be felt around the globe. This is about electing the leader of the free world. America matters. It's about our moral authority, not just our formal authority." "India is going to play one of our most important and stable partners as the world's largest democracy," he said.
Stressing the importance of US-India relations, Newsom acknowledged that the support that President Biden has received from Indian Americans was 'off the charts', including the support towards Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ajay Bhutoria, who is also a prominent Democratic fundraiser, said that the first US Presidential debate offered an unparalleled opportunity for both candidates to try to reshape the political narrative.
"The debate between President Biden and Trump, means the debate between light and darkness, the debate between progress and regression. What we saw in the four years of Trump where he instigated the mob to go to the capital and to turn around the elections," he said, referring to the unprecedented insurrection in Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
"What we saw was the highest number of manufacturing jobs being lost under the Trump administration. What we have seen under the Biden administration is stability, bringing all communities together and highest number of employment and lowest unemployment rate, and the largest investment in infrastructure," he said.
"There is growth and we have seen the leadership restored on the world stage," Bhutoria, Deputy National Finance Chair of the ruling Democratic party, said.