Former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he will hold a rally with Republican Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance at the Covelli Centre at 229 East Front St. in Youngstown on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, September 17.
Trump’s arrival on behalf of Vance, who the ex-president strongly endorsed in the primary, comes as the candidate maintains a slight polling lead against Democratic opponent Tim Ryan, a congressman representing the Buckeye State’s 13th district. An August Emerson College survey showed Vance, an attorney, venture capitalist, and author, with the support of 45 percent of Ohio voters while Ryan had the support of 42 percent. Another poll from the Trafalgar Group later that month showed the Republican with a four-point lead.
Vance expressed gladness to have Trump come to generate support in a state that the former commander in chief won twice.
“This will be fun,” the candidate tweeted of the upcoming rally. “Come and hang with me and the other candidates fighting to take back our country.”
Although Vance’s opponent Ryan has mostly distanced himself from the former president, the Democrat has attempted to associate himself with some of Trump’s positions, particularly concerning opposition to free trade with China.
Vance’s campaign has heavily consisted of tying Ryan to President Joe Biden’s policies. According to a June survey by the polling company Morning Consult, Biden suffers a 23-point net disapproval among Ohio voters. And Ryan has taken the preferred position of the current White House on all of the 88 votes examined by the data-aggregating website FiveThirtyEight.
Alignment with Biden could pose especially big electoral problems for Ryan on the subject of fossil-fuel extraction, something upon which many Ohio workers and consumers rely. Biden and Ryan both favor costlier renewable-energy sources over oil and natural gas.
“Joe Biden and Tim Ryan are crushing the American oil industry at a time of skyrocketing energy prices and a worldwide energy crisis,” Vance observed on Twitter on Tuesday.
The September 17 event will feature entertainers and a vendor row. General admission passes can be obtained online here.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “J.D. Vance and Donald Trump” by J.D. Vance.
