Ohio GOP Chair, Who Champions Vivek Ramaswamy, Stands to Benefit from H-1B Expansion | Headline USA
(José Niño, Headline USA) The Ohio Republican Party chairman championing Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial bid works at a law firm that profits from the same H-1B visa system his candidate vows to dismantle.
Alex Triantafilou serves as partner at Dinsmore & Shohl, a Cincinnati law firm with a dedicated immigration practice that secures H-1B visas for corporations hiring foreign workers.
Between 2022 and 2024, Dinsmore filed five Labor Condition Applications for H-1B visas with a 100 percent approval rate, according to federal records. The firm’s Immigration Group represents corporations, universities, and research institutions seeking work visas and permanent residency for foreign employees.
Triantafilou simultaneously leads Republican support for gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who campaigns on eliminating the H-1B visa program. In January, Triantafilou praised Ramaswamy’s running mate selection. He previously called Ramaswamy “a brilliant visionary leader” in a twitter post published on Dec. 20, 2025.
In @VivekGRamaswamy, Ohio has a brilliant visionary leader to guide us into the future. I implore everyone to watch as Vivek lays out his vision for restoring Ohio and America. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/yrhbUhfWxj
— Alex Triantafilou 🇺🇸🐘🇺🇸 (@ChairmanAlex) December 20, 2025
In May 2025, Triantafilou orchestrated the Ohio Republican Party’s endorsement of Ramaswamy, the earliest the state party has ever backed a non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate. The vote produced a 60 to 3 victory over Attorney General Dave Yost.
Ramaswamy has called the H-1B program “indentured servitude” and vowed to “gut” it as governor. “The lottery system needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission,” he said. “I’ll gut it.”
However, his business behavior tells a different story. Ramaswamy’s biotech company Roivant Sciences received approval for 29 H1B applications between 2018 and 2023 for positions including computational chemists and machine learning engineers with salaries from $75,000 to $215,000.
As Headline USA has previously reported, Ramaswamy has criticized Americans’ work ethic, in an attempt to justify the expansion of tech visas.
A Twitter user criticized Ramaswamy’s connection to Triantafilou, writing “You are a partner with Dinsmore who is in Kentucky right now bulldozing neighborhoods down for Amazon warehouses.”
Here’s a complete overview of your side of the story.https://t.co/mcPANWLCrx
Fact: You are a partner with Dinsmore who is in Kentucky right now bulldozing neighborhoods down for Amazon warehouses that they are packing full of somalis.
This is what Vivek is bringing to Ohio
— Josh (@XJosh) January 16, 2026
Triantafilou has not publicly stated personal positions on H1B visas during his 17 years leading county and state Republican parties. His relationship with Ramaswamy appears based on political alignment rather than personal friendship.
Dinsmore employees contributed $33,826 to Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and $32,215 to Vice President Kamala Harris during the most recent election cycle, compared to $2,923 to Donald Trump, according to OpenSecrets data.