After months of speculation about whether former President Donald Trump would wade into the high profile U.S. Senate race in Ohio, Friday afternoon he released a statement endorsing author, attorney and former U.S. Marine J.D. Vance.
“MAGA patriots from across the nation are set to deliver an election landside [sic] for Republicans that will serve as a devastating rebuke of the failures of Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump said in a statement. “In the Great State of Ohio, the candidate most qualified and ready to win in November is J.D. Vance. We cannot play games. It is all about winning!”
Vance was a Trump skeptic before the forty-fifth president took office, which Trump also addressed in his atypically long statement.
“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump said. “He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race. The Democrats will be spending many millions of dollars, but the good news is that they have a defective candidate who ran for President and garnered exactly zero percent in the polls. The bottom line is, we must have a Republican victory in Ohio. ”
The former president described his decision to endorse Vance as a difficult one, noting that many of the candidates in the race have said they support his policy proposals.
Ultimately, he decided on Vance for a number of reasons.
“He’s strong on the Border, tough on Crime, understands how to use Taxes and Tariffs to hold China accountable, will fight to break up Big Tech, and has been a warrior on the Rigged and Stolen Presidential Election. J.D. is a Marine who served in the Iraq War, a graduate of The Ohio State University, and earned a Law Degree from Yale—a great student,” Trump said. “With J.D. Vance, Ohio gets both brains and brawn. Ohio has been good to me, I won it twice, really BIG, and I have likewise been GREAT for Ohio. Let’s keep it going!”
The timing of the endorsement is impeccable for the Vance campaign.
A poll released Friday by the Trafalgar Group showed Vance in second place in the crowded race, about five points behind former Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel.
That poll, however, suggests that Trump has massive sway over likely voters.
More than 26 percent of respondents said they would be “much more likely” to support the candidate endorsed by Trump. More than 28 percent said they would be “more likely” to support that candidate.
Only 8.6 percent said they would be “less likely” to support a Trump-endorsed candidate, and 17.1 percent said they would. be “much less likely” to support that candidate.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “JD Vance” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “U.S. Senate” by U.S. Senate.
