Top Ramaswamy adviser jumps from PAC to campaign

A top New Hampshire-based aide to Vivek Ramaswamy’s allied super PAC is leaving the group to work directly on his campaign.

Michael Biundo, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and manager of Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential run, joined Ramaswamy’s campaign as a senior adviser this week. Biundo, who previously served in the same role at the American Exceptionalism PAC, is one of only a handful of GOP operatives to notch wins in both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries.

The move — confirmed by Ramaswamy’s campaign — reflects an increasing focus by Ramaswamy on New Hampshire, where the insurgent millennial Republican and former biotech executive has spent a significant amount of time campaigning.

“Mike Biundo’s hire as National Senior Advisor is yet another indicator that Vivek’s campaign is leveling up in the early states and nationwide,” Ben Yoho, Ramaswamy’s campaign CEO, said in a statement to POLITICO. “Mike brings decades of presidential campaign experience, and is one of a handful of operatives that has helped to lead winning campaigns in both the early states of New Hampshire and Iowa.”

Scott Schweitzer, a Columbus, Ohio-based operative, remains the co-chair of the PAC and will continue in his role.

Ramaswamy rails against the “corrupting influence” of super PACs and their “puppetry” even as he ostensibly benefits from one.

Pressed on that reality in a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday in New Hampshire, Ramaswamy said “the system should be changed to make sure that $3,300 per primary and $3,300 per general election is truly the only amount that you can give in order to be able to expressly support a candidate.”

But, he said, “if there are independent entities that want to express their opinions on issues, that’s absolutely their right.”

Ramaswamy has said he would publicly call on any super PAC supporting him to give money back to megadonors — but only if the “other main candidates” do the same thing.

“So far, I’ve heard deafening, pin-drop silence,” he said.