JD Vance: Local officials weigh in on Trump’s pick for running mate
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Local officials see the selection of Ohio's junior senator as former President Donald Trump's running mate in his race to return to the White House from different perspectives.
"What I like about JD Vance is his story and his upbringing," said Washington County Commissioner James Booth, a Republican. "This isn't a man that was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He made himself."
Vance came to national prominence with the publication of his best-selling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," detailing his childhood in Appalachia, including his mother's addiction to drugs.
Washington County Democratic Party Chairwoman Willa O'Neill read the book but did not come away with a positive view of its author.
"(I) was not at all impressed by it because I sort of felt like he misrepresented the area that we live in and kind of threw his own family under the bus," she said.
O'Neill questioned Vance's transformation from a fierce critic of Trump to a staunch supporter.
"I was not surprised at the selection because it's been pretty obvious that JD Vance has been working to really ingratiate himself with Mr. Trump," she said. "I don't know that the man has any kind of moral compass or moral code because he seems to change his views on things whenever he thinks it's going to benefit him."
Booth said he appreciates that Vance has both agreed and disagreed with Trump.
"Not one man knows everything. Conversation is great," he said. "I think he'll make a great vice president. And I think he'll make President Trump even better, make him more well rounded."
At the state level, Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters said Vance "is an out-of-touch millionaire who launched his political career by taking advantage of Ohio's opioid crisis and has spent his time in the Senate humiliating himself in the service of a convicted felon instead of working to improve the quality of life for Ohioans. His support for a national abortion ban and his twisted belief that women should stay in violent marriages for the benefit of their children exemplifies his dangerous extremism. He's not just wrong for Ohio, he's wrong for the country."
Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Vance will "bring a new generational perspective to the ticket" and Trump "has made a great choice and Sen. Vance will be a great partner as they campaign together this fall."
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said Vance "is a perfect pick: tough, smart and high-energy. He knows what it's like to have to fight, what it's like to win and what it's like to serve."
SENATE CAMPAIGN
In his first political campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2022, Vance emerged from a crowded field to win the May primary for the seat with much credit for that victory given to Trump's endorsement a few weeks prior and $15 million from a super political action committee funded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Vance's former boss.
Trump came to Ohio three times in 2022 for Vance: once in the primary and twice in the general election.
Vance beat then-U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat formerly of Howland, in the 2022 general election by 6.1%. It was the closest statewide election that year. The seat was opened by the retirement of Republican Rob Portman, who chose not to seek a third six-year term in the Senate.
Vance was a vocal critic of Trump during the 2016 election, calling him "reprehensible," "an idiot" and said that he didn't vote for him that year. He privately said in 2016 - but not reported until 2022 - that he went "back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a--hole who wouldn't be that bad and might even prove useful or that he's America's Hitler."
In an October 2021 interview with The Vindicator newspaper in Warren, Vance said he was wrong about Trump and his criticism was the result of voting for Republicans for president in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and being disappointed.
"I assumed that everybody who ran was basically a scumbag so I had a certain mistrust that any politician would deliver on his promises, and Trump actually did a good job," he said. "So one of the most important things is when the facts change, you change your mind. The facts to me were he actually honored his promises."
At an April 27, 2022, campaign stop at Mahoning County Republican Party headquarters, Vance said of his primary opponents, "You never try to be someone else. You've got to be yourself. I think that's one of the mistakes, by the way, that a lot of these clowns make against me in the primary. They haven't learned anything from the substance (of) how Trump governed. They try to act like Trump, but you're not Trump."
Vance also said, "The thing I hate about politics is people refuse to admit they change their mind. They refuse to admit they were wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong about Donald Trump."
During the Sept. 17, 2022, rally in Youngstown for Vance, Trump reminded the audience of Vance's past criticism.
"This is a great person who I've really gotten to know," Trump said of Vance. "Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that was before he knew me, and then he fell in love."