GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Proposes Raising Voting Age To 25 As Rivals Float Controversial Ideas

As the 2024 election cycle ramps up, presidential candidates are generating big ideas that will define Democratic and Republican platforms in the coming months.

President Joe Biden is currently the leading Democratic candidate and will most likely be the party’s nominee. This means that the crowded Republican field — currently consisting of Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, amongst others — will have to push proposals to set them apart from their opponents.

One idea from Haley is imposing a “mental competency test” for candidates over the age of 75. With frontrunners Biden and Trump already passed this threshold, Haley’s proposal is likely an effort to hit her two leading opponents. Proponents of this measure argue that many corporations have already imposed age limits and restrictions on their employees. However, others believe that this would limit the voters’ choice in the electoral process.

A similar proposal has come from Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who wants the legal voting age to be raised to 25. While Democrats have often argued that the voting age should be lowered, Ramaswamy believes that “attaching greater value” to the act of voting would make people more inclined to show up to the polls.

Another controversial idea backed by candidates Haley and Mike Pence is raising the retirement age to ensure that Americans work longer. While Trump and DeSantis have promised to protect social security, Haley and Pence believe it is an obvious way to cut the national debt.

DeSantis has proposed repealing Trump’s bipartisan First Step Act, a criminal justice and reform law that strives to reduce prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. DeSantis believes that the death penalty should be imposed on drug offenders and just vetoed a Florida criminal justice law that passed through the right-wing legislature.

Trump and DeSantis have backed the idea of revoking birthright citizenship, which gives every person born in America the right to be a U.S. citizen. The men argue that babies born to undocumented people should not automatically be given citizenship, although efforts to enact this policy would be very difficult in today’s political climate.

Perhaps the most outside-of-the-box idea comes from Trump, who has proposed to build government-planned cities on federal land. He has argued that these cities would give Americans a new chance at home ownership and could boost manufacturing in the country.