The Trump-backed candidate’s win has some far-reaching implications.
Is the GOP still the party of Donald Trump? A primary win in Ohio is showcasing the former president’s endorsement power.
J.D. Vance narrowly snagged the Republican nomination in a crowded Senate race on Tuesday with 32 percent of the vote when the Associated Press called the race. Meanwhile, some political strategists and even Vance himself have attributed this victory to a late endorsement from Trump.
“I absolutely have to thank the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump,” Vance said following his win.
But the pair didn’t always have good things to say about each other: Vance once called Trump “America’s Hitler,” and a “moral disaster” before going on to call him “the greatest president in my lifetime” in his primary race.
So who exactly is this new Trump loyalist and what does his win signal for other primaries? We have the details below.
Who is J.D. Vance?
Before his political ascent as a Senate nominee, J.D. Vance was best-known as the author of The New York Times bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which was later turned into a movie starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. Even though the book was published in 2016, it continues to be a controversial hit for its commentary on white working-class Americans and the effects of growing up around poverty.
But even with his notoriety as an author and the backing of venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Vance initially struggled to gain support among conservatives. A group of Republican leaders in the state even went so far as to sign a letter urging Trump not to endorse him. But the former president didn’t listen and backed him over three other MAGA Republicans, including former state treasurer Josh Mandel, businessman Mike Gibbons, and former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken.
“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now,” Trump said at the time.
Like his rivals, Vance aligned himself closely with Trump, and enthusiastically espoused the former president’s “America First” platform, which included railing against China and calling for the wall to be completed along the U.S.-Mexico border.
What’s next for Vance?
Vance is now set to take on Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan in November. Though this race is still months away, analysts are already saying that it could prove crucial in taking back the evenly split 50-50 Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote. That means Republicans just need to net one seat to regain control of the upper chamber.
Despite Vance’s clear advantage in a state where Trump won by 8 points in 2020, Democrats remain hopeful that Ryan can still pull out a victory.
“As Ohio’s next US Senator, Tim will keep working alongside Sherrod Brown to level the playing field and invest in our state so that we can out-compete China and create more opportunities for working families in every corner of our state — a far cry from any of the unaccountable and out of touch millionaires vying for the GOP nomination in this race,” said Elizabeth Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic party.
What does Vance’s win mean for other races?
Vance’s margin of victory will play a key role in whether Trump will endorse his other backers in much tougher upcoming races, such as the ones in Pennsylvania on May 17 and Arizona on Aug. 2.
“The greater the margin of victory for J.D. Vance, the higher the likelihood that Donald Trump endorses Blake Masters in Arizona,” a Republican associate of Trump’s told NBC News on condition of anonymity. “Vance’s win proves the concept that he can take someone from third or fourth place and pull them into the lead in a crowded primary.”
But out of the 120 candidates Trump has endorsed, his team believes there are bound to be some losses. The most likely one could be from the Republican gubernatorial primary race in Georgia on May 24, where Sen. David Perdue faces a steep battle against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp.
Still, Trump’s latest win with Vance suggests that his influence over the Republican Party is strong enough to potentially secure a nomination from the party for president again in two years.
