Vice President JD Vance returned to his home state of Ohio on Oct. 9 with a mission: Convince Republicans to turn out in the November midterms.
Vance headlined a rally at the Allen County Regional Airport in Lima after a stop in Cincinnati to vote early in the Nov. 3 election. His visit came days after President Donald Trump rallied supporters
near Dayton and ahead of another Trump appearance in Youngstown on Oct. 12.In a 30-minute speech, Vance chastised Democrats on Ohio's ballot and urged supporters to stick with GOP leadership − even as voters remain frustrated over the cost of living and high gas prices caused by the Iran war.
"What we’ve done over the past couple years is reverse some of the worst trends that existed in the United States
for my entire lifetime," Vance said.
The cameos by Trump and Vance suggest Republicans view Ohio − which the president won three times − as a critical part of their efforts to retain power amid significant headwinds.
Sen. Jon Husted and former Sen. Sherrod Brown are locked in an expensive race for Vance's former Senate seat that could shape control of the chamber. Voters will also decide a competitive governor's race between Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who attended Yale Law School with Vance.
"Midterm elections are tough. They always are," Husted told the Columbus Dispatch editorial board on Oct. 6. "For the president and the vice president to come is about getting the folks who voted for them to turn out again and vote in this election."
Vance pointed to Ramaswamy's business background and contends his former classmate will "unleash the incredible potential of this state." He credited Husted with the passage of legislation to prevent investors from buying up homes and a sweeping budget package that eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and reduced Medicaid funding.
"Every single day I see a headline or a press release from Sen. Husted and I think, 'Dammit, I’m kind of jealous of that guy,'" Vance said. "Why didn’t we think of that when I was in the United States Senate?"
Democrats, for their part, contend Republicans are becoming desperate in the face of lackluster poll numbers.
"(Husted) essentially sent a message to Big Tech, to the data center crowd: 'I need help, I need you to bail me out,'" Brown said during recent a campaign stop at Ohio State University. "They responded with $30 million. Now he's sending the same kind of message to the president to bail him out. It's just simply not working."
State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@usatodayco.com or @haleybemiller on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Vice President JD Vance urges Republicans to back Husted, Ramaswamy
