And that’s why I’m personally endorsing my friend, a practicing monotheist Hindu — Vivek Ramaswamy — to be the next governor of Ohio.

I grew up in the Mahoning Valley. My hometown, Warren, sits along the Rust Belt in northeast Ohio. I still love Warren. But I’ve never known a thriving Warren. Since 1990, the population of Warren has shrunk from over 50,000 to under 39,000.

Over the years, I saw a steady stream of politicians promise to “revitalize” the Mahoning Valley: They’ll beef up this government program, use that economic trick to lure in another manufacturer or keep the Lordstown GM plant. None of it worked. 

There are towns all across Ohio with similar stories.

The problem plaguing us is much deeper than money. At the root, our struggles stem from the breakdown of the family. 

Warren has one of the highest child poverty rates in our state at 50%. Not at all coincidentally, Warren also has one of the highest rates of children born out of wedlock, 66%. The data tell a clear story: the higher the rates of family breakdown, the higher the rates of child poverty, violence, crime, and government spending.

When Ramaswamy announced his bid for governor, he said that he hoped his marriage to his wife Apoorva, with whom he is raising two young boys, would provide an example to Ohio’s young men and women that family is deeply good. But even beyond his example as a husband and father, he will promote public policy to support strong families so that we can rebuild Ohio from the family up.

Families need and deserve good schools where teachers are accountable through meritocracy. Families need and deserve the dignity of work, not the condescension of inflated welfare programs.

Ramaswamy is a brilliant businessman and problem-solver who, like President Donald Trump, doesn’t need anyone else’s money. He’s not beholden to lobbyists, scared of their friends in the media, or trapped by their broken playbook. He’s free to state the truth: that it’s not the government but strong families that build strong communities. 

I understand that some Christians will hesitate to support a non-Christian for public office. Ramaswamy knows that I pray one day, he will see and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. While I’d love for all of our leaders to believe the truth of the Bible, I don’t believe that is a requirement — so long as they share and advance the right values for our state.

Years ago, when Mitt Romney was running for president, Christians debated whether we could support a Mormon candidate. Author and theologian Wayne Grudem wrote in response that America’s history was full of great statesmen, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who didn’t follow Jesus but were professed “deists.” In fact, it was the genius of our constitutional writers that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office.”

And in the Bible, we see many examples of God using nonbelievers to secure the welfare of the people. While under Roman rule, the apostle Peter wrote that God uses those in authority to “punish those who do evil, and praise those who do good.” In Nehemiah, God uses the Persian King Artaxerxes I not only to allow Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but the King gives Nehemiah all the resources he needs and a guarantee of safety for the passage home. 

In the same way, while Ramswamy and I don’t share a common faith, we share a common understanding of what Ohio needs to secure hope and a future for his children, my children, and yours.  

RAMASWAMY HOLDS EARLY GOP LEAD IN OHIO GOVERNOR’S RACE: POLL

He  believes in religious freedom. He believes men are men and women are women. He believes that parents, not the state, have the right to raise and educate their own children. He believes that every human life has inherent worth and dignity. 

The Bible is full of stories of God accomplishing His will through unexpected and even unbelieving men and women. And I have no doubt He will bless Ohio through the election of Ramaswamy as our next governor.

Aaron Baer is a Christian public policy leader in Columbus, Ohio.