Vivek Ramaswamy says he will withdraw from the Colorado primary ballot after Trump disqualified

WASHINGTON — Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the ballot.

Ramaswamy called the court’s decision an unconstitutional “attack on democracy” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“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,” said Ramaswamy.

At the center of the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling is a provision of the 14th amendment, which disqualifies certain officials engaged in an insurrection from holding civil, military or elected office without the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate.

A Colorado district judge ruled last month that Trump engaged in an insurrection by inciting a mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but said the 14th amendment provision does not apply to the former president. However, the state’s Supreme Court reversed that decision Tuesday.

“Having tried every trick in the book to eliminate President Trump from running in this election, the bipartisan Establishment is now deploying a new tactic to bar him from ever holding office again: the 14th Amendment,” Ramaswamy said.

He also demanded that his Republican rivals withdraw from the state’s ballot, too.

“I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley to do the same immediately − or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” he wrote.

Contributing: John Fritze, David Jackson and Aysha Bagchi