JD Vance plays attack dog for Trump, weathers scrutiny as VP nominee

Lori Meibers remembers a young JD Vance who was curious about everything.

Meibers, his mother’s sister affectionately known as “Aunt Wee,” said Vance was a bright kid who always had his nose in a book. Even as a baby growing up in Middletown, she said, Vance’s Papaw nicknamed him “Fingers” because he wanted to touch and explore everything. That curiosity sparked ambition, a drive to propel himself to the Marines Corps, Yale Law School and eventually the U.S. Senate.

When Vance texted Meibers to announce he would be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, she wasn’t all that surprised.

“He’s young, he’s bright, he thinks outside the box,” she said. “He’s not one of these guys who will just follow suit because this is the way it’s been done for generations and generations.”

Others are less sure about the Ohio senator. His favorability ratings have been underwater in national polls, including a USA TODAY/Suffolk University survey that showed voters believe Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is a more likable, capable leader. Only 42% said Vance is qualified to become president, compared to 54% who thought that of Walz.

He also can’t seem to stop making headlines, whether it’s for telling Vice President Kamala Harris to “go to hell” or amplifying unsubstantiated rumors about Ohio immigrants eating people’s pets. Reporting from the Associated Press and New York Times highlighted Vance’s ties to the minds behind Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint that he and Trump have sought to distance themselves from.

But the Trump campaign maintains that Vance’s backstory will appeal to voters in battleground states, where Vance − often joined by his family and dog − has spent most of his time since he secured the vice-presidential nomination. Perhaps more importantly, Vance’s allies say his appetite for a good fight with detractors makes him an ideal messenger for the MAGA agenda.

His ability to go toe-to-toe with opponents will get the ultimate test Tuesday, when he faces Walz in the first and only vice-presidential debate.

“It’s not an especially complicated message that we’re trying to get out to the American people,” Vance said in an interview with USA TODAY Network Ohio. “We’re trying to remind Americans that Donald Trump’s presidency delivered prosperity, low inflation, rising take-home pay and a relatively peaceful world. We’re trying to persuade Americans that Kamala Harris’ vice presidency has delivered an open border and unaffordable groceries and housing.”

A rocky start to VP campaign

Vance, 40, isn’t a stranger to messy campaigns.

He weathered attacks from better-known Republicans to win a bruising Senate primary in 2022, boosted in part by Trump’s endorsement and the financial backing of tech mogul Peter Thiel. Vance’s campaign entered the general election against former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan in shambles while his opponent spent millions on television ads. National Republicans bailed Vance out in the final months of the race, and he ultimately defeated Ryan by 6 points.

Ryan wasn’t shy about airing Vance’s controversial takes, and many of them have come back to haunt his vice-presidential bid.

The Harris campaign resurfaced Vance’s previous comments about women and families, including his views on divorce and criticism of “childless cat ladies.” In another past interview, Vance said women who graduate from Ivy League schools and prioritize career success over children are on a “path to misery.” He faced attacks over his evolution on Trump, who he once suggested could be “America’s Hitler.”

“I don’t actually know who he is because he continues to change his beliefs and talking points to whoever happens to be talking in his ear or funding him,” Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters said. “That’s dangerous for any office, but especially the vice presidency of the United States.”

Vance said he warned Trump’s vetting team that his past comments would take on new life, although he believes many of the Harris campaign’s attacks have fallen flat.

“It’s been like all of the greatest hits from the 2022 Senate race,” he said. “It’s expected. It’s exactly what we thought was going to happen. You sort of explain your comments while trying to keep the main message on what Kamala Harris has failed to do and what Donald Trump did successfully.”

Criticism against Vance isn’t only limited to his past. He attracted backlash for elevating claims on social media that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets and stealing wildlife as the city contends with an influx of migrants. Vance said he was sharing firsthand accounts from his constituents and accused media outlets of not caring about Springfield until cat memes took over the internet.

But Gov. Mike DeWine and local officials in Springfield said the rumors were baseless and distracted from real problems on the ground, such as housing shortages and a stretched health care system.

Beyond the scrutiny of his rhetoric, Vance has navigated a perception that he’s awkward and unfeeling toward people on the campaign trail. His visit to a Georgia doughnut shop went viral on social media after one of the employees didn’t know who he was and requested not to be on camera. Afterward, he told NBC News he “felt terrible” for the employee and urged his staff to better plan their stops.

U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, a Cincinnati Democrat, said voters appreciate Harris and Walz because they’re “normal and pragmatic” − and he contends Vance is too online to be relatable.

“The problem with JD is he’s the last guy you talk to at the party, not because you don’t like him or wouldn’t be interested in catching up,” said Landsman, who is Vance’s representative in Congress. “He gives the sense that he doesn’t really like you.”

Vance backers say he’s part of ‘realignment’

Supporters of Vance and Trump see something different as the vice-presidential nominee barnstorms Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada: an attack dog who’s willing to go after Harris any time, any place.

Vance concludes his rallies by taking questions from reporters, with a supportive crowd to egg him on. He appears on television outside the conservative media ecosystem, often taking an adversarial approach to interviews with journalists on CNN and “Meet the Press.” Vance also sought to make his pitch before a less friendly crowd at the International Association of Fire Fighters in Boston, some of whom booed him when he took the stage.

“My father and our entire campaign couldn’t be more thrilled with JD’s performance since being tapped as our VP nominee,” said Donald Trump Jr., who’s friends with the Ohio senator. “A day doesn’t go by at this point where I don’t hear from a Republican operative or donor who were previously skeptical of JD, now singing his praises and blown away by how well he does on the campaign trail and with the media.”

Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou said Vance’s approach to politics represents a new era for the GOP − one where Republicans visit picket lines and push back against foreign policy hawks. Triantafilou believes Vance’s personal journey out of poverty will resonate with voters who are focused on kitchen table issues.

Vance came into wealth as a venture capitalist and now owns multiple properties, including a Virginia home the Washington Post reported is worth $1.6 million. He and Usha Vance’s assets are valued between $4.1 million and $11.8 million, according to his latest personal finance disclosure.

“Sen. Vance is part of the future, and it’s just part of a realignment in some respects,” Triantafilou said. “He represents that realignment here in Ohio, and that’s a greater focus on working class Americans who feel like they’re left behind in a globalist economy.”

JD Vance’s short record in the U.S. Senate

Some of that policy perspective has been evident during Vance’s short tenure in the U.S. Senate.

Vance showed a willingness to work across the aisle on economic issues important to populist Republicans and Democrats in Washington. During one Senate session, he talked at length about internet affordability and encouraged senators to rise above partisan fights and “actually (accomplish) things for the constituents that we represent.”

To that end, Vance partnered with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to crack down on executives of failed banks. He introduced a bill with Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin that aims to ensure taxpayer-funded inventions are manufactured in the U.S. He also backs a bipartisan effort to eliminate a policy that reduces Social Security for people who receive other benefits, such as a government pension.

After a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine − just weeks after Vance took the oath of office − he joined forces with fellow Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown on legislation to strengthen federal rail safety rules.

At the same time, Vance uses his platform in the Senate to ruffle feathers and capitalize on hot-button debates of the day. His legislation includes proposals to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; ban gender-affirming care for minors and strip federal funding from colleges that allow protest encampments.

But the defining issue of Vance’s first term has been the war between Ukraine and Russia − and his staunch opposition to U.S. involvement. Building off his Senate campaign, when Vance said he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine,” the junior senator has opposed all U.S. funding to support the country’s fight against Russia.

The conflict underscores Vance’s isolationist view of foreign policy, which aligns him with Trump and puts him at odds with members of his own party who want to take a firm stance against Russia.

“It was the bipartisan foreign policy consensus − the experts − that got us into a 20-year war in Afghanistan, where American taxpayers, for two decades, funded things like how to turn Afghanistan into a flowering democracy or how to ensure that the Afghans had proper American thoughts about gender in the 21st century,” Vance said on the Senate floor earlier this year. “Well, maybe that was a waste of money and maybe the experts were wrong.”

What’s in a resume?

When Vance speaks to voters on the campaign trail, many of those same issues are front and center.

He calls for an expansion of oil drilling in the U.S., a line that particularly resonates with voters in Pennsylvania. He blasts electric vehicle mandates. He says he doesn’t want to see American troops on the ground “for anybody’s wars but ourselves.” Speaking about his mother’s struggle with a substance use disorder, he calls for tighter security at the U.S.-Mexico border to crack down on the flow of illicit drugs.

If elected, Vance would be the youngest vice president since Richard Nixon assumed the office in 1953. Still, Triantafilou said there shouldn’t be any doubts about his readiness − especially since he wouldn’t be the first politician to enter the White House with limited experience. Trump never held elected office before 2017, and Barack Obama ran for president during his first term in the U.S. Senate.

Landsman, too, said people shouldn’t underestimate Vance.

“He’s very, very smart, and so he will be very effective in helping Trump and the Heritage Foundation execute on the pieces of Project 2025 that they care most about,” Landsman said.

Vance said he hasn’t thought much about what kind of vice president he’d be, should Republicans win the White House in November. But he knows one thing: He doesn’t plan to sit on his hands or keep his head down.

“I think it’ll be very active,” Vance said. “I know the president wants me to be involved in everything, and I certainly hope to be. The president is the leader of the party. If he wins, he’s the leader of the country, and my job is to help make him as successful as I can.”

Meibers sees her nephew as someone who won’t adhere to the status quo or shy away from tough problems. She said Vance was always drawn to service, whether it was volunteering at fish fries or his time in the Marine Corp. As younger man, he often discussed political issues Meibers thought he had no business worrying about.

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