Vivek Ramaswamy, candidate for president, weighs in on key issues in town hall event

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has launched a White House bid, touched on a number of topics recently in a "Conversation with the Candidate" town hall event with New Hampshire voters. Watch the full conversation in the video player above or the links below. Included is a 30-minute, online-only portion of the conversation:Watch Part 1: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?Watch Part 2: Ramaswamy answers questions about prescription drug costs, US involvement in UkraineWatch online exclusive: Ramaswamy says he wants US to shut down FBI, Dept. of EducationConversation with the Candidate is a town hall-style program. It is intended to allow the candidate to convey their points of view on a wide range of topics. During the program, the moderator may challenge the candidates’ assertions, but every fact may not be checked in real time. Hearst Television is committed to holding the candidates accountable on their claims throughout the election cycle. Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and after high school, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biology.A first-generation American, he went on to get his law degree from Yale University while working at a hedge fund.He started a biotech company and oversaw the development of five drugs that would win approval from the Food and Drug Administration.Ramaswamy also wrote a New York Times bestseller called "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam."Last year, he launched a new firm called Strive Asset Management.He believes in ending affirmative action, shutting down the Department of Education and declaring independence from China.He is married to Dr. Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy, has two children and lives in Columbus, Ohio. See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:Watch Part 1: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?Watch Part 2: Ramaswamy answers questions about prescription drug costs, US involvement in UkraineWatch online exclusive: Ramaswamy says he wants US to shut down FBI, Dept. of Education Ramaswamy floats Democrat as possible running mateIf Ramaswamy wins the Republican nomination for president, he told voters he hasn't given much thought about who would be his running mate, but floated a surprising name. "I would give strong consideration to even thinking unconventionally, even someone like RFK Jr., for example, who is running for the Democratic nomination," Ramaswamy said. "I think we live in a moment where we can unite this country," he added. "Ronald Reagan did it in 1980, winning in a landslide election. I think there's an opportunity to win in a landslide election in 2024, and I think that's the single-most uniting thing we could deliver in our politics, and that's the way I'm going to be thinking."Candidate says he would sign bill to ban gender-affirming care for minorsRamaswamy answered a viewer question about gender-affirming care, saying he would support banning any genital mutilation for children under the age of 18. He shared an anecdote he said came from the campaign trail in New Hampshire:"The last time I was here in New Hampshire, I met two young women, both of whom when they were teenagers, one of them was 13 years old, two young women went through double mastectomies, cut off both of their breasts. One of them had a hysterectomy, removing her uterus. Both of them had puberty blockers that effectively mean they will never be the same again, and the sad part is, Adam, they regret it."Ramaswamy shared more about how he formed his opinion and said banning the practice is the "compassionate" thing to do for children. "There isn't a state in this union that allows you to get a tattoo before the age of 18. Why? Because we don't want kids to make permanent changes to their bodies that they will regret later in life.""It's not that I condemn any kid for going through confusion. Far from it. I think we need to be compassionate. Most of the time, when a kid, like those two young women who I met, say that my gender does not match my biological sex, it means something else is going wrong in their life. We need to have the courage to be able to ask them, 'What's going wrong at school? What's going wrong at home?' and actually have the compassion to help them. Affirming their confusion is not passion to me. It is cruelty. For most of our history, we have viewed that as a mental health disorder. That's not a stigma. That's actually the first sign to asking how we, as adults and leaders, help our children by protecting them. "That's not because I shun anybody. It's actually, I think, the compassionate thing to do for children."See the full "Conversation with the Candidate" event through the following links:Watch Part 1: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?Watch Part 2: Ramaswamy answers questions about prescription drug costs, US involvement in UkraineWatch online exclusive: Ramaswamy says he wants US to shut down FBI, Dept. of EducationOther "Conversation with the Candidate" events will be held throughout the campaign season. The full list of candidates who participate will be updated here.