Vivek Ramaswamy went to Cleveland on Monday for a courtside “date night.” He left having watched his hometown team get run out of the building — and, according to an Ohio newsletter, having been turned away from the Knicks’ locker room while trying to make a campaign moment of the loss.
The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 on Monday, May 25, completing a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals and clinching the franchise’s first NBA Finals trip since 1999. Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, was in the building, having posted a photo with his wife on X earlier that evening captioned, “Date night in Cleveland. Let’s go Cavs…all the way back!”
The Cavs did not come all the way back. And according to the Ohio political newsletter The Rooster, which broke the account, Ramaswamy’s night got worse from there.
Citing a private security source it said had direct knowledge, the outlet reported that Ramaswamy tried to walk into the Knicks’ restricted area after the final buzzer, announcing that he was “running for governor of Ohio and wanted to welcome everyone to Ohio.” A Knicks security officer reportedly told him he “didn’t have access to the area” and turned him away. The newsletter also reported that arena security had stopped Ramaswamy before the game, when he tried to park near the Cavaliers’ players and ownership.
Ramaswamy’s campaign denied the account. Campaign manager Jonathan Ewing told The Independent the report was “100% fake, from a mentally unstable and unhinged left-wing blogger who may suffer from delusions.”
Mamdani gets the last word
What isn’t in dispute is how the night ended online. After the sweep, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reposted Ramaswamy’s courtside “date night” photo to his personal and official accounts. The next day, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him directly whether he had been trolling his Ohio counterpart.
“You know, I just hope you had a nice night, and we had a great one in New York,” Mamdani said on “The Source”. When Collins replied that it sounded like a yes, Mamdani answered, “I’ll leave that to you.”
A feud Ramaswamy helped start
The exchange extended a rivalry Ramaswamy has courted himself. Last summer, as the Columbus Dispatch reported, a super PAC backing his campaign ran a Times Square billboard urging New Yorkers unhappy with Mamdani’s rise to leave the city and move to Ohio — a stunt Ramaswamy promoted on X.
Ramaswamy, a Cincinnati native and Upper Arlington resident who built a fortune in biotech, ran briefly for president in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing Donald Trump. He was tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk, then left the day Trump was inaugurated. He is now the GOP nominee for governor, running to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine. His Democratic opponent, former state health director Amy Acton, has led him in spring polling.
