Julia Garrison
Gianna Hayes
News Editors
Around 70 protesters stood on the corner of Friendsville and Riffel roads in uptown Wooster, holding signs that prompted car horns and thumbs up from passing cars.
“Ohio says NO to Vivek,” said one sign. Another protester waved a flag that read “Defend Democracy.”
Behind the protesters was the Greystone Event Center, with two police cars guarding the entrance. Men in suits opened the door for attendees of the evening’s event: the Wayne County Republicans’ annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. The protesters’ signs emphasized their discontent with gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was the keynote speaker at the dinner. The dinner –– a fundraiser for the Wayne County Republican Party –– entailed $75 dinner tickets, per person. VIP reception tickets, which included a meet-and-greet with Ramaswamy, were $175.
Dave Griffith, one of the lead organizers of the protest, was walking alongside the sidewalk with various signs, supplying those without signs with one upon request. Wearing a high-visibility vest, he spoke with attendees and legal observers wearing similar bright yellow clothes.
Griffith is a member of “Defending Democracy,” a group of concerned citizens in Wooster who regularly protest the current presidential administration due to a number of concerns. The group has seen growing numbers at protests, going from around 50 people gathering downtown on Feb. 4, to around 1,000 people on April 5.
“This is bringing people together,” Griffith said, in an interview with the Voice. What began as 30 people lining the sidewalk quickly grew to 70 in a half hour, with protesters lining the sidewalk of Riffel and snaking around to the intersection at Friendsville. Some protesters parked in the shopping center parking lots and walked to the events center. Others were dropped off and still others offered rides to one another due to the unusually frigid temperature for mid-April.
Another member of Defending Democracy, Tyler Owens, reiterated that many people in Wooster wanted to find a way to get involved with protests and citizen action events.
“I can’t stand by and watch,” he said. “I think it’s important to show people — in a community like this — that they are not alone in feeling upset, outraged [and] scared. Showing them that there is community to be had.”
“Ideas bubble up from everywhere,” Griffith said, greeting people who passed by during his interview with the Voice. “When you have an extreme, right wing party that is in control of our state of Ohio, that is in control of the federal government, you shut down everything. No good ideas bubble up from that.”
A large black car arrived at the front of the Greystone Event Center around 5:30 p.m. Flanked by police officers, hired security from ARK Protection Group and men wearing “Bikers For Trump” jackets, Ramaswamy approached the group of protesters on the sidewalk, attempting to understand their purpose for protesting. A camera crew and campaign team followed Ramaswamy and a lavalier microphone was clipped to his blazer.
Ramaswamy attempted to answer a flurry of questions from protesters, first talking to a woman, known as Sandy, who identified herself as a military veteran. Later, Ramaswamy offered her free admission to the dinner to hear his speech, which she accepted.
A video of the interaction — including footage of their conversations inside the events center — was posted to Ramaswamy’s social media platforms shortly after the event. The video features a conversation between Ramaswamy and the woman, Sandy, in the VIP section of the event, which was limited to those guests who paid a higher price to attend the dinner and experience a meet-and-greet with Ramaswamy.
Among the topics discussed in the hectic speed-round of questioning from protesters were property taxes, the population, immigration, gerrymandering and education. Ramaswamy’s final short conversation was with a sixth grader, who was holding a sign that read “BLACK LIVES MATTER TO ME.”
Pushing other questions aside, Ramaswamy said he wanted to speak “to the children,” and asked the sixth grader what she believed was the largest problem with school. Ramaswamy explained that he planned to increase teachers’ salaries, something he would expand upon in his speech an hour later.
Ramaswamy extended an invitation inside to Griffith as well, but he declined, stating that he was needed outside should anything arise.
The lobby inside the events center was decorated with portraits of former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan behind the check-in desk. A table off to the side was manned by members of the Ohio Young Republicans.
During the dinner, Ramaswamy was introduced by Ohio Senator and former Ohio House of Representatives member Kristina Roegner. Roegner’s introduction of Ramaswamy included what she described as successes at both the state and federal level: including the slashing of DEI programs and Ramaswamy’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency, often shortened to DOGE.
Roegner also referred to Ramaswamy as being “so right on all the issues,” and reiterated that Ramaswamy had been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Roegner read out Trump’s endorsement of Ramaswamy — including an impression of Trump’s speaking tone — from the president’s Truth Social page before inviting the keynote speaker to the stage.
“We are on the cusp of a new golden age.” Ramaswamy opened, noting that he wanted Ohio to again be known as one of the great states of production and a state to which young people should want to move. “Out with the doom, in with the boom,” he said.
Ramaswamy heavily criticized the current state of Ohio, calling for its revitalization through a number of avenues. He reiterated his support for a second industrial revolution for the state, detailing concerns of Ohio’s ongoing “brain drain,” in which younger, highly-educated individuals leave the state following their college education.
Ramaswamy closed his speech by saying that the Ohio state government should never “govern from a bubble, for a bubble.” Before finishing, Ramaswamy invited Sandy, the woman he had met outside at the protest, up to the podium to say a few words.
“It’s given me a different perspective, talking to you,” she said. From the dining level, a slight murmur broke into applause as she left the stage. The video posted to social media platforms by Ramaswamy, including this moment from the dinner, has amassed over a half-million views on Instagram alone.
Ramaswamy was quickly escorted off stage following his dinner by his security detail and left the venue, heading to his next stop on the campaign trail. By the time he finished his speech, protesters had already left the scene.
