In the wake of several lackluster polls, allies of the Ohio Republican Senate candidate are trying to make J.D. Vance’s chances great again.
Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author and a venture capitalist, is part of a crowded field of primary candidates vying to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman.
In launching his Senate bid, Vance, a onetime conservative critic of former President Donald Trump, has changed course, taking a similar populist approach, and has sought to win Trump’s support in the race.
In a 2016 media tour promoting his book, which was a bestseller and was credited with understanding the political mood of the white working class, Vance was critical of then-candidate Trump, even acknowledging he voted for independent Evan McMullin that year. But now, Vance, as with his rivals, is actively courting Trump’s endorsement.
Trump has yet to endorse anyone in the race, but some Vance allies see winning that endorsement as key to changing his political fortunes. In what was seen as a bid to win Trump’s support, Vance recently rolled out another endorsement from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial freshman from Georgia and a close ally of the former president. He had her join him on the campaign trail. Vance has also adopted some of Trump’s rhetoric and culture wars, including railing against Big Tech.
But despite his overtures to Trump and his base, Vance, despite impressive fundraising and a national profile, doesn’t appear to be making waves in early polling. A February poll by the Trafalgar Group showed Vance in third place at 14.3%, a change within the margin of error from the same survey in December, which found him at 14.9%. Meanwhile, other candidates, including Mike Gibbons, have climbed.
Fox News reported that Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC supporting Vance, recently launched a $1.4 million ad buy statewide to “reintroduce” the candidate to Ohio voters. The ad includes a clip of the channel’s host Tucker Carlson telling Vance, “You really, I think, understand what’s gone wrong with the country.”
Politico recently reported that the same PAC attributed Vance’s “precipitous decline” to ideological misalignment, with his negatives driven by “the perception that he is anti-Trump.” The PAC recommended a “course correction ASAP” that will establish Vance “as a true conservative.”
But Vance’s campaign appeared optimistic that the author won’t be writing an elegy for his campaign.
Taylor Van Kirk, press secretary for the Vance campaign, told the Washington Examiner, “Even casual observers of politics know the person being attacked the most is the person most likely to win.”
“Despite being the candidate to spend the least amount of money on advertising while having the most amount of money spent against him, J.D. has maintained his position, and we are confident that we have the message and the firepower to win this race in the homestretch,” Van Kirk said.
