US Politics
Knicks deny Vivek Ramaswamy as he tries to campaign during Cavaliers playoff blowout: report
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It was a bad night all around for Ohio.
On Monday, the New York Knicks trounced the Cleveland Cavaliers to end the Eastern Conference finals, completing a 4-0 sweep and sending the franchise to its first NBA Finals since 1999. Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was reportedly rejected multiple times as he tried to pal around with the visiting New York players.
First, before the game, security turned Ramaswamy away as he tried to park near the Cavs ownership and players, according to the Ohio news site The Rooster.
After the 130-93 blowout, Ramaswamy, who appeared to have court-side seats worth thousands of dollars, was then turned away when he attempted to enter the restricted Knicks area while declaring he was “running for governor of Ohio and wanted to welcome everyone to Ohio,” per the outlet.
Ramaswamy campaign manager Jonathan Ewing told The Independent in a statement that the report was “100% fake, from a mentally unstable and unhinged left-wing blogger who may suffer from delusions.”
The humiliation didn’t end there.
New York City Mayor and Knicks diehard Zohran Mamdani cheekily retweeted Ramaswamy’s game night X post from earlier on Monday, which showed the Republican and his wife smiling in the Rocket Arena, plus the caption, “Let’s go Cavs…all the way back!”
When asked about the post, Mamdani got in another jab at his partisan/NBA rival.
“You know, I just hope he had a nice night,” the Democrat said. “And we had a great one in New York.”
The Ramaswamy photo was soon circulating online, with various commentators linking the image to the Republican’s larger struggles to crack the GOP mainstream.
“Truly the story of his life,” wrote liberal podcaster Dan Pfeiffer, in one such post.
“Knicks went on an 18-0 run after this photo,” another X poster claimed. “Vivek has cursed Ohio.”
Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur, ran a brief, unsuccessful 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign, then was reportedly edged out of the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative within months, as DOGE leader Elon Musk reportedly took issue with Ramaswamy’s claim that tech companies were hiring immigrant workers because American culture “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”
In the governor’s race, Ramaswamy trails his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, according to April polling.
President Donald Trump, who was born in New York, reportedly may attend a Finals game, according to insiders.
It remains to be seen what kind of welcome the Republican, whose main residence is now in Florida, would get.
He is one of the most famous living New Yorkers, though Trump lost both the state of New York and much of liberal-leaning Manhattan and the Bronx in the 2024 election, while getting mixed returns across the other boroughs.