Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
JD Vance Makes Solo Debut as GOP Vice Presidential Nominee With Monday Rallies in Ohio and Virginia
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 months ago on
July 22, 2024

Supporters arrive at a campaign rally for Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, at Middletown High School, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Middletown, Ohio. (AP/Julia Nikhinson)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance will make his first solo appearances on the campaign trail Monday, a day after the 2024 presidential race was thrown into upheaval as President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, leaving the Democratic candidate an open question.

Vance to Hold Rallies

Vance, an Ohio senator, is scheduled to hold a rally in his hometown of Middletown, followed by an evening event in Radford, Virginia, fresh off his rally debut with Donald Trump over the weekend.

Vance had been expected to eventually face Vice President Kamala Harris in a debate. But with Biden dropping out and the Democratic ticket unsettled, the senator is following Trump’s lead and focusing on attacking Biden and Harris jointly.

“President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever’s at the top of the Democrat ticket,” Vance said Sunday in a post on X. “Bring it on.”

Trump’s campaign plans to use Vance, who became the GOP vice presidential nominee last week, in Rust Belt states that are seen as pivotal for Democrats’ path to the White House, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and places where the senator’s blue collar roots and populist views are expected to resonate.

Middletown, between Cincinnati and Dayton, is considered to be part of the Rust Belt. Using it as the location for his first solo event as the vice presidential nominee not only allows Vance to lean into his biography, which he laid out in his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” but it gives the campaign a chance to establish a fresh groundswell in a former swing state that has been trending Republican.

Republicans Promoted a Unifying Message

While Republicans promoted a unifying message last week and decried inflammatory language in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, one of the first speakers to introduce Vance at the rally suggested the country may need to come to civil war if Trump loses in November.

“I believe wholeheartedly, Donald Trump and Butler County’s JD Vance are the last chance to save our country,” said George Lang, a Republican state senator. “Politically, I’m afraid if we lose this one, it’s going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved. It’s the greatest experiment in the history of mankind.”

Vendors outside the event removed merchandise referencing Biden and added coffee mugs, T-shirts and other items that featured Vance.

Vance’s second stop is in a part of western Virginia that is considered a part of the Appalachia region. The campaign’s decision to send Vance there also signals their confidence in their chances. Virginia is a state that had been a swing state but has gone for Democrats in every presidential election since 2008.

In his speech at the Republican National Convention last week introducing himself to America, Vance spoke about “forgotten communities” where “jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”

Vance Leans Into His Youth

The 39-year-old Republican also leaned into his relative youth, contrasting Biden’s decades in government with the milestones in his own life. It’s not clear how Vance will shift his message toward Harris, whom many Democrats were lining up to support, or any other contender for the nomination.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seen as a potential Democratic vice presidential candidate, made a point of criticizing Vance for the way he has portrayed Kentucky and the region.

Vance was raised by his grandparents in Middletown, which is not in Appalachia, but spent a significant amount of time traveling to Kentucky with his grandparents to visit family. The senator has said he hopes to be buried in a small mountain cemetery there.

“He ain’t from here,” Beshear told The Associated Press.

The governor took issue with Vance’s portrayals in his book of people in Kentucky and eastern Kentucky and suggestions that they were lazy or not motivated to work.

“You don’t get to just come in eastern Kentucky a couple of times in the summer and then maybe for weddings and a funeral and cast judgment on us. It’s offensive,” Beshear said.

Despite his presence on the primetime debate stage and his bestselling book, Vance is still working to introduce himself to voters.

CCN Poll Says Most Haven’t Heard of Vance

A CNN poll conducted in late June found the majority of registered voters had never heard of Vance or had no opinion of him. Just 13% of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of Vance and 20% had an unfavorable one, according to the poll.

After Vance was named as Trump’s running mate, a startling number of Republican delegates, who are typically party insiders and activists, said they didn’t know much about the senator.

In his hometown in Ohio, though, he was welcomed as a local star.

Zetta Davidson, 73, a longtime poll worker from Fairborn, Ohio, called it “a wonderful move” for Trump to pick Vance. “I think he’s honest, straightforward, and if it’s not right, he’ll rip it apart,” she said.

A 72-year-old retiree from Middletown, Randy Linville, called Vance an “excellent choice.”

“No. 1, he’s young,” Linville said. “Mr. Trump is not that old, but he’s getting up there.”

Vance has served in the Senate for less than two years. He has morphed from being a harsh Trump critic, at one point likening him to Hitler, to becoming a staunch defender of the former president, hitting the campaign trail on his behalf and even joining him at his Manhattan criminal trial this summer.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Republicans Win 218 US House Seats, Giving Donald Trump and the Party Control of Government

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Alum Is New Dean of Health and Human Services College

DON'T MISS

Who Is Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Congressman Donald Trump Picked to Serve as AG?

DON'T MISS

The Key Races to Watch: Nov. 13 Update

DON'T MISS

Feds Agree to Raise San Luis Reservoir: More Water for Farmers, Communities, Wetlands

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: What Impact Does Deportation Have on the Central Valley?

DON'T MISS

How Will Election Winners Bredefeld and Chavez Fit in as Supervisors?

DON'T MISS

California Senate Leader Calls Union ‘Morally Bankrupt’ for Opposing a Vulnerable Democrat

DON'T MISS

R&B Concerts, Comedy, & Worship Take Center Stage This Weekend

DON'T MISS

Speaker Mike Johnson Wins GOP Nomination to Remain in Job, Faces Full House Vote in New Year

UP NEXT

Fresno State Alum Is New Dean of Health and Human Services College

UP NEXT

Who Is Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Congressman Donald Trump Picked to Serve as AG?

UP NEXT

The Key Races to Watch: Nov. 13 Update

UP NEXT

Feds Agree to Raise San Luis Reservoir: More Water for Farmers, Communities, Wetlands

UP NEXT

Wired Wednesday: What Impact Does Deportation Have on the Central Valley?

UP NEXT

California Senate Leader Calls Union ‘Morally Bankrupt’ for Opposing a Vulnerable Democrat

UP NEXT

R&B Concerts, Comedy, & Worship Take Center Stage This Weekend

UP NEXT

Speaker Mike Johnson Wins GOP Nomination to Remain in Job, Faces Full House Vote in New Year

UP NEXT

ICE Immediately Moves to Bolster Surveillance of Illegal Immigrants After Trump Win

UP NEXT

You Can Win a Lexus in This Fresno Telethon Drawing. Get Tickets Now.

The Key Races to Watch: Nov. 13 Update

10 hours ago

Feds Agree to Raise San Luis Reservoir: More Water for Farmers, Communities, Wetlands

10 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: What Impact Does Deportation Have on the Central Valley?

10 hours ago

How Will Election Winners Bredefeld and Chavez Fit in as Supervisors?

11 hours ago

California Senate Leader Calls Union ‘Morally Bankrupt’ for Opposing a Vulnerable Democrat

11 hours ago

R&B Concerts, Comedy, & Worship Take Center Stage This Weekend

12 hours ago

Speaker Mike Johnson Wins GOP Nomination to Remain in Job, Faces Full House Vote in New Year

12 hours ago

ICE Immediately Moves to Bolster Surveillance of Illegal Immigrants After Trump Win

12 hours ago

You Can Win a Lexus in This Fresno Telethon Drawing. Get Tickets Now.

13 hours ago

Trump Says He Will Nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to Be Attorney General

13 hours ago

Republicans Win 218 US House Seats, Giving Donald Trump and the Party Control of Government

WASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on...

6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Republicans Win 218 US House Seats, Giving Donald Trump and the Party Control of Government

10 hours ago

Fresno State Alum Is New Dean of Health and Human Services College

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks at the Republican Party of Florida Freedom Summit, Nov. 4, 2023, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP File)
10 hours ago

Who Is Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Congressman Donald Trump Picked to Serve as AG?

10 hours ago

The Key Races to Watch: Nov. 13 Update

10 hours ago

Feds Agree to Raise San Luis Reservoir: More Water for Farmers, Communities, Wetlands

Wired Wednesday Cover, 11/13/24, KMPH Screengrab
10 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: What Impact Does Deportation Have on the Central Valley?

11 hours ago

How Will Election Winners Bredefeld and Chavez Fit in as Supervisors?

11 hours ago

California Senate Leader Calls Union ‘Morally Bankrupt’ for Opposing a Vulnerable Democrat

Search

Send this to a friend