An engineer from New Jersey who has previously tried running for governor, senate, and congress in his state announced his candidacy for president.
Running as a Republican candidate, 38-year-old Hirsh Singh announced that he was “entering the race for President” in a video posted to Twitter Thursday evening.
“Today I am here to announce my intention to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States,” Singh began in his video. “My name is Hirsh Singh, a lifelong Republican and an America-first, constitutional carry, and pro-life conservative who helped restore the conservative wing of New Jersey’s Republican Party starting in 2017.”
In his video, Singh described himself as a “MAGA Republican” who supported former President Donald Trump, describing him as “the greatest president” of his lifetime.
I'm entering the race for President.https://t.co/OEHCSYOdvK pic.twitter.com/RyxW4sKMSW
— Hirsh Vardhan Singh (@HirshSingh) July 27, 2023
Singh criticized “big tech and big pharma” for the relentless “grave threats” that Americans have been facing.
“While big pharma has made massive profits working with government to compel everyone to take their experimental vaccines, big tech has become the big brother who invades our privacy and has indulged in censorship of our political and contrarian viewpoints,” Singh said.
In 2017, Singh ran for governor of New Jersey to replace former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), according to NJ.com. Singh described himself as not being a politician, but as an engineer.
“I’ve never been a politician, but I’m an engineer – a trained problem-solver – specializing in aerospace and defense for the U.S. government,” Singh said, according to the outlet, adding that he understands the problems New Jersey faces and how to “fix them” and how to cut waste.
After coming in third with 10% of the vote, Singh later ran for a seat in the House in the 2nd Congressional District in 2018, coming in second place in the primary with 30% of the vote. The next year, Singh ran for Senate and received 36% of the vote, according to NJ1015.
Singh’s campaign manager, Arvind Kumar, told IJR in an interview that he had already “proven his support” citing how close Singh came “to winning the Senate primary” without receiving help or support from the party “establishment”.
Kumar highlighted how Roger Stone, a former adviser to Trump, had predicted Singh would beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), after Stone expressed belief that Singh would pass DeSantis in polls.
“Personally, Roger Stone has actually predicted that Hirsh Singh is going to beat Ron DeSantis,” Kumar said.
Kumar told IJR Singh has a “standard conservative background” in terms of the issues he supports, highlighting how Singh was “the only one who is unvaccinated.”
In his video, Singh described himself being “the only pureblood candidate for president” because he never received a COVID-19 vaccination, adding that “New Jersey’s Democrat senate president” had described him as being “‘Trump on steroids.'”
Among the other issues Singh is focusing on are ending “unnecessary wars,” addressing the border crisis at the southern border and illegal immigration and improving photo identification guidelines for voting.
“He’s actually taken on big pharma, and he supports election integrity. He wants minorities to have access to photo identification cards, specifically in Democratic states such as New York and California,” Kumar said, pointing to how New York and California do not require identification to vote.
Singh joins the ever-crowded field of GOP candidates all vying for the presidential nomination. Among the list of candidates Singh is up against are Trump, Christie, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R), and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley.
A recent Morning Consult poll conducted between July 21-23 shows 59% of voters support Trump, 16% would vote for DeSantis, 8% would vote Ramaswamy, 6% would vote for Pence, and 2% would vote for Scott.