Trump Strikes Pragmatic Tone to Defend Vance Endorsement in Ohio
Trump Strikes Pragmatic Tone to Defend Vance Endorsement in Ohio
(Bloomberg) -- Former president Donald Trump defended his endorsement of JD Vance in Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary at a rally in the central part of the state, as some state Republicans bristle at his backing the venture capitalist who once was a self-described “never-Trump guy.”
Trump acknowledged that Vance has said some bad things about him, using an expletive, and said he likes a lot of other candidates running in the race. But he said he endorsed someone he thinks has the best chance to win and help Republicans reclaim control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
“Ultimately, I put that aside,” Trump said of Vance’s past criticisms of him at the rally on Saturday night at the Delaware County Fairgrounds north of Columbus. “I have to do what I have to do. We have to pick somebody that can win.”
Trump’s pragmatic tone toward Vance comes as he has also in recent days apparently brushed off leaked audio in which House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy revealed he considered urging Trump to resign after last year’s Capitol insurrection.
Most of the leading candidates in the May 3 Ohio primary race had been vying for Trump’s endorsement and to be seen as the most loyal to him and his “America First” agenda. The race to replace retiring Republican Senator Rob Portman will ultimately help decide which party controls the chamber.
Trump’s endorsed candidates will face GOP voters in upcoming nominating contests starting with a GOP convention on Saturday in Michigan and Ohio’s May 3 primary, which has seven candidates competing to run for the Senate seat.
Before the endorsement of Vance, opponents and the Club For Growth backing former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel hammered the 37-year-old for comments he made in 2016 and 2017, including calling Trump “noxious” and himself a “never-Trump guy.”
Vance spoke before Trump at the rally, saying he changed his mind after seeing the former president keep promises and expose corruption in Washington. Vance acknowledged that while members of his family were with Trump from the start of his campaign, “it took me a little bit longer to come along” to him.
“The president loves this state, this state loves the president, and on May 3, vote JD Vance for U.S. Senate ladies and gentlemen, because I am the ‘America First’ candidate,” Vance said.
Trump said he believes the “Hillbilly Elegy” author backed by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel is the Republicans’ best chance to defeat expected Democratic nominee Tim Ryan, a U.S. Representative who ran for president in 2020. Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has also endorsed Vance and been campaigning with him.
Trump called Vance to the stage about an hour into a speech with his familiar recitation about his accomplishments in office, complaints about President Joe Biden’s administration and his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He also recognized his former aide Max Miller, who’s running for Congress, and his other endorsed candidates in Ohio.
Mandel, Mike Gibbons, the investment banker who had emerged as a front-runner, and former Ohio Republican Party chairwoman Jane Timken, are questioning whether Ohio Republicans will follow Trump’s cue on Vance.
Dozens of Republican county chairmen and state GOP committee members in Ohio -- many backing other candidates in the race -- circulated a letter to Trump urging him not to make the endorsement. A group of Ohio 2016 GOP delegates for Trump also sent him a letter urging him to reconsider the endorsement, saying they support the former president but are worried Vance would depress GOP turnout in November if he was the nominee.
“This endorsement of JD Vance is a betrayal to not only your Ohio supporters but Trump supporters across our great nation!” the letter from the delegates said.
Rob Scott, the state director for Trump’s 2016 campaign in Ohio who’s backing Mandel, said he would advise Trump to stay out of the race because he doesn’t think Vance can win the primary, let alone the November general election -- and it wouldn’t bode well for the former president if that happened.
Independent polls had shown Vance trailing Gibbons and Mandel before Trump’s endorsement. But Vance and the Super PAC backing him, Protect Ohio Values, quickly began airing ads touting the endorsement. The Super PAC got an additional $3.5 million from Thiel after Trump announced his choice, adding to the $10 million the entrepreneur contributed last year.
Trump’s endorsement of celebrity physician Mehmet Oz over former Bridgewater Associates executive David McCormick in the GOP Senate race in Pennsylvania drew similar backlash from Republicans concerned that Oz isn’t a true conservative or the best candidate to defeat Democrats in November in the race to replace retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey.
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