Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke to a crowd of Penn State students and other attendees for about an hour as part of Turning Point USA’s “You’re Being Brainwashed Tour” on Penn State’s campus Thursday evening. Speaking in the Sparks Building, Ramaswamy monologued about his life story and journey into politics before taking questions from those in attendance.

Doors for the event were supposed to open at 5 p.m., but the Sparks Building didn’t open to ticket holders until 5:25 p.m., five minutes before the scheduled start of the event. The line of students for the event stretched from the front entrance of the Sparks Building up the Pattee Mall. It took a turn at the steps of the Paterno and Pattee Libraries and reached the end of the sidewalk at the south end of the Paterno Library.

Several students in line were turned away from attending the event due to capacity issues. Those turned away were given Turning Point USA “Make America Great Again” hats by organizers.

When students were allowed into the room, there were more attendees with tickets than seats. In addition to filling the 347-person capacity of Sparks 121, the event drew around 75 more people who sat in the aisles.

Ramaswamy’s talk was preceded by a comedy set from Turning Point USA contributor Jobob Taeleifi. Taeleifi identified himself as a former comedian who turned toward work in politics and began contributing to Turning Point USA. Taeleifi’s set consisted of jokes about John Fetterman, race, Joe Biden, and more.

At one point, Taeleifi made a joke about math problems and race.

“Sometimes, us JoBobs are not known for being great at math. Math was never my strong suit. There’s always the word problems that would screw me up with math. Like I’d read a word problem that would say, ‘Jim has 14 watermelons.’ What is Jim doing with 14 watermelons?” Taeleifi said. “Fourteen was never believable for me. It wasn’t realistic. But if you wanted me to believe it, you’d probably say, ‘Davante has 14 watermelons.'”

After a pause for laughter from the crowd, Taeleifi followed that with, “Aidan has 14 food allergies. Is that OK?”

Taeleifi appeared to be stalling for Ramaswamy, who appeared at 5:50 p.m., just more than 10 minutes after Taeleifi’s set began.

Ramaswamy began his talk speaking about his life story. He noted his parent’s immigration to the United States, his time growing up in Cincinnati, and his time at Harvard, at Yale, and in the professional world before he turned to politics for a career.

After explaining his transition to politics, Ramaswamy spoke about his views on America’s political climate. He took issue with the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 and the way that companies treated liberal issues in the aftermath. He talked about the political culture on college campuses and how he felt there was an “intolerance for dissent.”

Ramaswamy finished his monologue by speaking about the importance of the 2024 election and how the students in the room could make an impact.

After speaking for 20 minutes, Ramaswamy opened the floor up to questions as several students made their way to the left side of the room. Around a dozen students asked questions of Ramaswamy.

Two students said they covered some distance to see Ramaswamy, with one saying he drove four hours and the other saying he drove 14 hours from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Ramaswamy took questions on religion, entrepreneurship, the January 6, 2021, insurrection, Donald Trump and his personality and politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict, trust in the government, climate change, and more.

One student attempted to challenge Ramaswamy by calling him a hypocrite, though that student stumbled through their question and called Ramaswamy a “dumbass,” which the crowd laughed at.

One middle-aged person who identified themselves as a Penn State alum was given the final question and asked about the importance of the 2024 election. Ramaswamy took his final moments to use that to urge those in attendance to vote on Tuesday, November 5.

“It’s going to be your generation that saves this country. You have a chance to shock the political class,” Ramaswamy said.

Ramaswamy left the event at 6:52 p.m. after speaking for a little more than an hour, and the crowd in 121 Sparks left with him.

State College is set to host another political rally on Friday, October 18, when Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks around 6 p.m. at the State Theatre to campaign for presidential candidate Kamala Harris.