Apoorva Ramaswamy viciously defends husband Vivek after reporter suggests he is targeting women at Republican debates
Apoorva Ramaswamy bared her teeth in her husband’s defense on Wednesday after the Republican presidential primary debate, after taking a less brutal approach in previous public appearances.
Vivek Ramaswamy had a blockbuster night of sound bites at the third debate in Miami, Florida, as he attacked his competitors on stage – but saved the toughest attacks for Nikki Haley.
He also attacked Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and the trio of debate moderators, specifically mentioning Kristen Welker of NBC News.
Afterwards, Ramaswamy was the first to enter the post-debate spin room to face the media – he walked out with his wife Apoorva.
As the media asked questions of the presidential hopeful and biotech entrepreneur, Apoorva, a surgeon, broke away to address a reporter who suggested her husband deliberately targeted women during the debate.
“You went after three women -” one reporter began to wonder, as the candidate’s wife intervened and her husband was touted for a post-debate interview.
“There is no one who supports women more than my husband,” she said, visibly upset by the suggestion.
Apoorva Ramaswamy defended her husband more forcefully after Wednesday’s debate, when a reporter suggested her husband and 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy disproportionately attacked women on stage
Apoorva, a surgeon and mother of two, joined her husband Vivek in the spin room after the debate on Wednesday night and grew louder in her defense of the 2024 candidate
“He’s a great man, he’s an advocate for women,” the mother of two added. “I’m a surgeon, I work, I went to Yale and studied medicine and he has supported me at every stage of my career.”
‘He is extremely pro-woman. It is shameful to label Nikki Haley – or other people who fail to fulfill their responsibilities – as representing women,” Apoorva said, continuing the attacks on Haley that her husband leveled during the debate.
“Do you think he regrets going after three women in the first few minutes of the debate?” that reporter pushed.
“I think he regrets not attacking more people who have failed the American people,” Apoorva replied. ‘This is not true. I’m tired of these political people trying to separate us based on gender.”
‘We are human, we can fail. Men can fail. Women can fail,” she said. “Enough – everyone did it on both sides. My husband doesn’t. It’s a crazy suggestion.’
As the third Republican primary debate unfolded, the most explosive comments again came during the bitter exchanges between Ramaswamy and Haley – who flanked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
While Ramaswamy hurled insults, Haley violently defended himself.
After the debate, Ramaswamy told reporters that Haley should not “eat what she can’t handle,” after saying during the second debate in September that she felt “dumber” every time she had to hear her competitor speak.
He also said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Haley slammed Ramaswamy on stage, calling him “scum” after saying his competitor looks like “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.”
Tensions ran high as Ramaswamy hit new lows by launching personal attacks on his rivals as the candidates went to battle in Miami to catch front-runner Donald Trump.
Haley demanded Ramaswamy keep her daughter’s name out of his mouth after he said she had a TikTok account and she claimed China and Russia were “drooling” over the prospect of him becoming president.
She also later clarified that her heels are two inches long and double as “ammunition.”
In addition to going after Haley, Ramaswamy also used his opening statement to challenge RNC Chairman McDaniel to take the stage and resign.
“I think there’s something deeper going on here within the Republican Party, and I’m appalled by what happened last night,” Ramaswamy said, referring to a slew of Republican Party election losses, including in his home state of Ohio.
“We have ultimately become a party of losers because of the cancer of the Republican establishment,” he added. ‘Let’s speak the truth. Since Ronna McDaniel took over the RNC chairmanship in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020 and 2022 – not a red wave that never came.”
“On that note, Ronna, if you’ll come on stage tonight, look Republican voters in the eye and tell them you’re resigning, I’ll turn around and surrender my time to you,” he dared.
He continued in his first statements on the debate stage to go after the moderators.
‘Think about who is moderating this debate. This would have to be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogen and Elon Musk. We would have ten times as many viewers,” he said.
“And we have the Democrats and we have Kristen Welker here. Do you think Democrats would actually hire Greg Gutfeld to host a Democratic debate? They wouldn’t do it.’
“Kristen – I’m going to use this time because this is about you in the media and the corrupt media establishment, you ask – the Trump-Russia hoax that you pushed on this network for years, was that real or did Hillary Clinton break it up ? -disinformation? Answer the question. Go,” he demanded.
The NBC News moderator didn’t get a chance to respond as the audience applauded and cheered.