Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will participate in a live town hall on NewsNation on Aug. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, the candidate’s first of the campaign.
The 90-minute broadcast, which will air live from NewsNation’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, will cover a wide variety of topics including the economy, crime, health care and immigration.
The event, which will be moderated by the network’s chief Washington anchor Leland Vittert, will see the biotech entrepreneur field questions from both a live audience as well as viewers in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Vittert serves as anchor of the channel’s 7 p.m. primetime program “On Balance” and delivers special politics coverage for the network. His recent work includes helming coverage of the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address and the 2021 Russia-United States Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to NewsNation, Vittert was a weekend news anchor and correspondent for Fox News Channel from 2010 to 2020. Before that, he served as FNC’s Middle Eastern war correspondent based in the Jerusalem Bureau.
The announcement follows a recent bump in polling for the 37-year-old, who launched his campaign on Feb. 21.
A Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday ranked Ramaswamy third among the primary field at 9%, behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 15% and former president Donald Trump at 58%.
Ramaswamy has recently said he wouldn’t join Trump’s ticket as vice president if asked nor would he accept a role as a member of his cabinet.
“I will be helpful to this country in whatever way I can, but I would not be number two or member of an administration,” Ramaswamy told ‘The Clay & Buck Show’. “I just don’t think that’s the right way for me to make the maximal positive impact on this country.”
In June, NewsNation hosted the first town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The network has also interviewed several other Republican presidential candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, South Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Ramaswamy’s town hall will be followed by a special edition of “Cuomo” hosted by Chris Cuomo with contributions from political editor Chris Stirewalt.
