MILWAUKEE – Delivering the most important speech of his short political career, Donald Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance drew on his humble Ohio origins Wednesday night to introduce himself to the American people during the penultimate session of the Republican National Convention.
“To Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this,” Vance said, “I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”
With the exception of Ohio, the other three states he mentioned happen to be swing states in the upcoming election.
Vance drew heavily on his Appalachian upbringing, which he described in his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance was officially certified as Trump’s vice presidential nominee in the convention’s first session Monday afternoon.
As Maryland convention delegates waited for Vance’s remarks on the floor Wednesday night, they expressed optimism about the Trump-Vance ticket’s ability to tackle issues that matter to Marylanders.
Christopher Anderson, a Baltimore County delegate, described Vance to Capital News Service as “very articulate, very intelligent, and I think he can handle the vice presidency just fine.”
Anderson said he wanted to hear Vance make an appeal to Black and brown voters that he described as being “left behind.”
“You gotta have familiarity with the situation in urban communities to do something about it,” Anderson said.
While Vance’s speech omitted mention of Black communities, the junior senator acknowledged that his wife Usha, who preceded him on the convention stage, is the daughter of South Asian immigrants.
“Together we will put the citizens of America first, no matter the color of their skin,” Vance said, indicating a willingness to open the MAGA circle to a more diverse base.
That message ran counter to official convention signs waved by delegates that said “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!”
Vance also refuted the notion that his family in a low-income area of rural Appalachia would experience advantages in society over people of color. Yet, Vance said, “our media calls them privileged and looks down on them.”
Vance spoke at length of how the opioid epidemic affected his community, and in particular his mother. Vance’s mother Beverly waved from the crowd, standing next to House Speaker Mike Johnson. According to Vance, she is nearly 10 years sober from opiates.
Steve Schuh, an Anne Arundel County delegate, said: “I think that J.D. Vance is going to bring a unique focus on the opioid crisis that is affecting our country.” It’s a perspective that, according to Schuh, is urgently needed as “Maryland has been devastated by opioids.”
Outside of Milwaukee, Maryland Democrats have been quick to denounce Vance’s record.
Luca Amayo, a spokesperson for the Maryland Democratic Party, told CNS: “By nominating J.D. Vance as the Republican choice for vice president, the GOP has elevated an avowed MAGA Republican dedicated to passing a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape and incest, gutting Social Security and Medicare, and realizing the extremist aspirations of Project 2025.”
But Vance hasn’t always been a MAGA Republican. Vance told PBS’s Charlie Rose in an October 2016 interview: “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.”
Vance also told Rose that Trump supporters are cynical about America’s future and dissatisfied with themselves.
“You think about the slogan ‘Make America Great Again.’ The implication is that America isn’t great right now,” Vance said. “And if you’re very unhappy about your life, that’s going to resonate.”
The vice presidential nominee is now courting those same MAGA voters to turn out to the polls, having flipped his position on the 45th president. Trump’s 2022 endorsement of Vance in a crowded Senate race propelled the “Hillbilly Elegy” author to elected office.
The abortion issue was conspicuously absent from Vance’s speech, although the senator has been vocal in the past about restricting abortion access. And beyond abortion, Vance has sought to inhibit reproductive freedom in other ways.
Earlier this summer, Vance voted against the Right to IVF Act, a bill introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, to protect and expand nationwide access to fertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization.
“Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the Republican party have all made it clear that our freedoms are disposable,” Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George’s county executive, told CNS. “Abortion rights. Contraception. IVF. These are the freedoms Republicans are trying to rip away,”
Alsobrooks is running a hotly contested senate race against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan as Democrats and Republicans vie for a crucial majority in the upper chamber.
If the Trump-Vance ticket wins in November, Vance would wield a critical tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate.
In such an outcome, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, would appoint Vance’s replacement to the Senate. That appointee would hold office until at least December 2026.
“That’s why we must defeat the extreme Trump-Vance ticket and hold onto our Democratic Senate Majority,” said Alsobrooks. “This election, and the 51st seat, will determine whether or not our freedoms will be protected.”
While the upshot of Maryland’s Senate race may tip the scales in one party’s favor, the Free State is expected to once again vote Democratic for President Joe Biden, who won the state by 33 points over Trump in 2020.
“The Maryland Republican Party and their candidates keep doubling down on their extreme far-right agenda, which Maryland voters have repeatedly rejected at the ballot box,” Amayo said.
Maryland GOP leaders did not respond to CNS’ request for comment.
Trump will speak Thursday evening to conclude his party’s convention. It will be the first time the former president speaks publicly since a failed assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally Saturday.
Capital News Service Reporter Emily R. Condon contributed to this story.
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