Democrats say J.D. Vance’s VP nomination is a MAGA Dream
By Michael Jones
The Donald Trump veepstakes played out as you’ve come to expect any significant decision for the former president and reality TV host: News of the runners-up leaked as the political universe waited in anticipation of the winner.
Once word dropped that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-N.D.) wouldn’t be tapped, all eyes turned to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) before Trump took to his Truth Social app to make it official.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” the former president said.
Vance was elected to the Senate and has served in the institution for less than two years, so he doesn’t bring the institutional knowledge a stalwart like then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) contributed to then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)’s ticket during the 2008 election.
And before entering public office, Vance was one of Trump’s harshest critics – but he has since become one of the former president’s fiercest defenders and a sharp departure from the button-up demeanor of former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s first running mate. (Pence fell out of favor with Trump after he refused to block the certification of the 2020 election for President Biden.)
What Vance has going for him the most is his youth and loyalty to Trumpism: at 39 years old, he’s seen as someone who can inherit the Make America Great Again movement once Trump rides off into the sunset.
He’s also viewed by Democrats to be as much of a threat to democracy as Trump.
“This is not a ticket that cares about America,” a House Democrat texted me after Trump made it official. “It’s about to be on because [Vance] is stone-cold ridiculous.”
Unsurprisingly, other Hill Democrats expressed similar sentiments.
“We know J.D. Vance in Ohio,” Rep. Shontel Brown, who represents the northeast part of the state, said. “J.D. Vance is an opportunist, election-denier, abortion ban believer, and extremist who wants to implement Trump’s Project 2025 on Day One. This is an extreme MAGA ticket that the country will reject.”
Sherrod Brown, a vulnerable Senate Democrat running for re-election in the Buckeye State, sent a fundraising pitch to supporters following the selection of his fellow Ohio senator to be Trump’s number two.
“This was already the most expensive Senate race in the country,” Brown wrote in the email. “And now, even more dark money is about to come pouring into Ohio to support my Trump-backed opponent, Bernie Moreno.”
Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition had a one-word, ten-letter reaction to Trump’s announcement: “Despicable.”
Robert Garcia, a top Biden surrogate and congressman for California, said Vance couldn’t be a more irresponsible pick.
“J.D. Vance is an extremist with views that are completely outside the mainstream,” he added. “The fact that he immediately politicized the assassination attempt against former President Trump and blamed Democrats is shameful.”
And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) invoked Maya Angelou in her reaction: “J.D. Vance has told us who he is. Believe him.”
The opposition wasn’t limited to Capitol Hill either.
“A clone of Trump on the issues,” President Trump said of Vance to reporters before boarding Air Force One to travel to Las Vegas for a two-day swing. “I don’t see any difference.”
The Democratic National Committee launched 16 billboards and a mobile billboard in the Milwaukee area this morning to call out the Trump-Vance ticket in the city where both will accept their nominations this week at the Republican National Convention.
“Vance has championed and enabled Trump’s worst policies for years—from a national abortion ban to whitewashing January 6 to railing against Social Security and Medicare,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement: “Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future.”
Biden’s reelection campaign said Trump’s pick cements his ticket as the most extreme and out-of-touch presidential ticket in American history that would cause actual harm to the American people if elected.
“Vance won Trump’s veepstakes by passing his MAGA litmus tests with flying colors. Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate because he will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: Bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and certainly no matter the harm to the American people,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said.
O’Malley Dillon listed Vance’s proposals in Project 2025, his anti-abortion record, opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and expansions to Social Security and Medicare as vulnerabilities the campaign planned to exploit.
The campaign also expressed confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris as an effective messenger against Vance. (Harris called Vance to congratulate him on the selection but he didn’t recognize the number. Their teams are in touch and coordinating a call.)
Biden campaign spokesperson TJ Ducklo said she would be prepared to face off against Vance at the sole vice presidential debate scheduled on July 23 or August 13.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told reporters she’s looking forward to the vice presidential debate.
“She is strong,” Warren, another top Biden campaign surrogate, said. “She knows what she’s talking about and she doesn’t give an inch. And she has the better end of the argument.”
Michael Jones is an independent Capitol Hill correspondent and contributor for COURIER. He is the author of Once Upon a Hill, a newsletter about Congressional politics.
