Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used his remarks Friday at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, to draw a sharp line against identity politics on both the left and the right, calling on conservatives to ground American identity in shared ideals rather than race or ancestry, as reported by Fox News.

Speaking to a packed audience, Ramaswamy criticized what he described as an unhealthy fixation on heritage among some segments of the “online right,” while also rejecting the race-centered worldview of the “woke left.”

He argued that both approaches undermine the principles that define American citizenship.

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“I think the idea of a heritage American is about as loony as anything the woke left has actually put up,” Ramaswamy said during his speech.

“There is no American who is more American than somebody else. … It is binary. Either you’re an American, or you’re not.”

Ramaswamy said American identity is rooted in belief, not lineage, and pointed to his own background as the son of legal immigrants.

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“What does it mean to be an American in the year 2026? It means we believe in those ideals of 1776,” he said. “It means we believe in merit, that the best person gets the job regardless of their skin color.”

He also emphasized the importance of free expression as a core American value. “It means we believe in free speech and open debate,” Ramaswamy said.

“Even for those who disagree with us, from Nick Fuentes to Jimmy Kimmel, you get to speak your mind in the open without the government censoring you.”

Ramaswamy drew connections between far-left and far-right identity movements, saying the conservative movement should reject racial quotas and also reject rationalizations for hatred toward groups of people.

He specifically referenced white nationalist Nick Fuentes when discussing rhetoric he said had no place on the right.

He also warned against adopting a victim mentality, arguing it mirrored behavior commonly associated with progressive activists. “Victimhood culture from the left to the right will be the ruin of this country,” Ramaswamy said.

The speech followed a guest essay Ramaswamy published earlier in the week in The New York Times, where he argued that the American right is divided between two incompatible camps: one focused on ancestry and identity, and another grounded in American ideals.

“No matter your ancestry, if you wait your turn and obtain citizenship, you are every bit as American as a Mayflower descendant, as long as you subscribe to the creed of the American founding and the culture that was born of it,” Ramaswamy wrote.

“This is what makes American exceptionalism possible.”

In the essay, Ramaswamy warned Republicans against ignoring what he described as a growing presence of Gen-Z white nationalism and antisemitism.

He likened its rise to the way the far-left wing of the Democratic Party normalized ideological concepts such as “racist math,” and argued Republicans must confront identity politics on the right rather than tolerate it.

Ramaswamy also addressed economic pressures facing younger Americans, calling on Republicans to reduce costs and increase opportunities for wealth creation through what he described as “broad-based participation in wealth generation from stock market gains.”

“The uplifting truth is that the solution to identity politics needn’t be one camp defeating the other, but instead achieving together a national escape velocity to more promising terrain,” he wrote.

His remarks came amid ongoing disputes within right-wing media, where figures disagree sharply on issues ranging from foreign policy to protectionism.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has been openly critical of Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens, accusing them of promoting conspiracy theories and damaging the movement.

During AmericaFest’s opening night, Shapiro and Carlson appeared separately on stage and exchanged pointed remarks, with Carlson accusing Shapiro of attempting to de-platform him in a manner Carlson said ran counter to the approach of Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk, who built his profile debating opponents on college campuses.

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