Entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he would withdraw his candidacy from the Colorado primary ballot until former President Donald Trump is allowed on the ballot.
Ramaswamy published a video to X detailing his decision shortly after it was announced Colorado would remove Trump from the Republican primary ballot in the state.
The Republican candidate referred to Colorado's move as an "unconstitutional maneuver" and a "bastardization of the Fourteenth Amendment of our U.S. Constitution."
"This was a provision that was designed to bar Confederate members — people who had switched from the Confederacy from actually being able to serve," Ramaswamy said. "That's very different than what's at issue here to say the least."
He added the move was a "hollowed out husk on what the country was built on."
"The basic principle that we the people select our leadership. Not the unelected elite class in the back of palace halls," Ramaswamy said. "That's old-world Europe, not the United States."
Ramaswamy said he pledged to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot "unless and until" Trump's name is restored.
The entrepreneur also challenged fellow Republican candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, to follow his lead and withdraw from the state GOP primary ballot.
"Or else these Republicans are simply complicit in this unconstitutional attack on the way we conduct our constitutional republic," he added. "I refuse to be complicit in that."
Ramaswamy said Colorado's decision was wrong and urged Republicans to "step up and stand up with a spine" for the future of America.
"That's really what's at stake: whether we the people have a say in deciding who leads this country," he continued and noted it would be "easier" for himself and fellow GOP candidates to improve their chances of securing the Republican nomination with Trump off a state ballot. "This belongs to the people, not to the unelected Democratic cabal of judges in Colorado or any other state."
Ramaswamy's video followed up an earlier post declaring Colorado's removal of Trump from the state ballot as an "actual" attack on democracy.
"Today’s decision is the latest election interference tactic to silence political opponents and swing the election for whatever puppet the Democrats put up this time by depriving Americans of the right to vote for their candidate of choice," he wrote.
"The Framers of the 14th Amendment would be appalled to see this narrow provision—intended to bar former U.S. officials who switched to the Confederacy from seeking public office—being weaponized by a sitting President and his political allies to prevent a former President from seeking reelection. Our country is becoming unrecognizable to our Founding Fathers," the Republican presidential candidate concluded.
The Colorado Republican Party responded to Ramaswamy's video and declared the Party would convert to a pure caucus system if Trump's appeal fails.
