When former President Donald Trump announced that Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) would be his running mate, few people in Republican political circles were happy about it.

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire owner of several right-of-center news outlets, was not happy with the choice, nor were establishment Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Republican political operatives decried Vance as too extreme and an electoral liability that made the race much more competitive than it had been prior. And to this day, Republican politicians refuse to offer their support for Vance as the second name atop their party’s ticket.