A video showing Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as a college student questioning Rev. Al Sharpton about his “political experience” has gone viral.

Mr. Ramaswamy was 18 in the video and a student at Harvard University when he attended an October 2003 presidential town hall on MSNBC.

“Of all of the Democratic candidates out there, why should I vote for the one with the least political experience?” the young Mr. Ramaswamy said.

“Well, you shouldn’t because I have the most political experience,” Rev. Sharpton responded. “I got involved in the political movement when I was 12 years old and I’ve been involved in social policy for the last 30 years. So don’t confuse people who have a job with political experience.”

During last week’s Republican primary debate, the 38-year-old Mr. Ramaswamy’s own political experience was called into question on the Milwaukee stage.

“Mr. Ramaswamy, listening to all of this, why should voters choose you over more experienced politicians on this stage?” Fox News’s Bret Baier asked. “You’re basically a blank slate for people.”

Later in the debate, former Vice President Mike Pence attacked Mr. Ramaswamy by saying that the country doesn’t “need to bring in a rookie.”

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley clashed with Mr. Ramaswamy over his foreign policy ideas, and said, “you have no foreign policy experience and it shows.”

In a post Monday on X, formerly Twitter,  Mr. Ramaswamy reacted to his encounter with Rev. Sharpton by saying, “I’ll give the 18-year-old version of myself a pat-on-the-back for eliciting the most sensible words ever to come from that man’s mouth. 20 years later, it’s funny how the tables have turned.”

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.