COLUMBUS, Ohio — Donald Trump endorsed venture capitalist and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance in the crowded May 3 Republican primary for US Senate in Ohio, offering support that could decide a close race in a key election for determining control of the chamber in November.
Trump endorsed Vance despite the candidate’s previous comments criticizing the former president and a last-minute push by Republican officials in Ohio urging Trump to stay out of the race.
“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 in a statement on Friday. “He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race.”
Other candidates in the race and outside groups supporting them have hammered Vance for comments he made in 2016 calling Trump “noxious” and describing himself as a “never Trump guy” who “never liked him.”
In recent days, a group of county Republican chairmen and GOP state central committee members in Ohio drafted a letter urging Trump to stay out of the race, noting Vance’s past opposition to the former president. The primary is May 3 and Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Delaware, Ohio, on April 23.
Vance said he changed his mind after seeing Trump in office. He got a boost from Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, who tweeted on March 22 that it was “BS” to call Vance a “never-Trumper,” that a lot of conservatives skeptical of Trump “got won over when they saw him in action” and that Vance is “100% America First.”
Vance, who is backed by technology billionaire Peter Thiel, said he met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in early March to talk about the race and that “if he endorses a candidate, that candidate is almost certain to win.”
Vance, 37, said he’s honored by Trump’s support. “He was an incredible fighter for hard working Americans in the White House, he will be again, and I’ll fight for the America First Agenda in the Senate,” Vance said on Twitter.
The specter of Trump’s endorsement has loomed large over the crowded Ohio GOP primary. Vance and others in the field mimicked some of Trump’s coarse rhetoric and labeled themselves as standard-bearers for his agenda.
Before Russia’s late February invasion of Ukraine, Vance said that he doesn’t really care what happens to Ukraine and the US needs to pay more attention to its Mexican border. He later called the assault a tragedy, but reinforced his stance that helping Ukraine can’t take precedence over domestic problems.
The Ohio race is to replace retiring Republican US Sen. Rob Portman, who endorsed former Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken in the race, in a contest that could help determine control of the Senate, currently deadlocked at 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans are favored to win a majority in the U.S. House in November’s midterm elections, but they express less confidence in taking the Senate, largely because Trump might potentially elevated candidates in primaries who may then struggle in statewide contests.
A Trafalgar Group poll released Friday showed former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel leading Vance 28% to 22.6%, followed by investment banker Mike Gibbons at 14.3%, state Sen. Matt Dolan at 11.6% and Timken at 7.5%. The poll found that 54.9% of GOP voters would be more likely to support the candidate Trump endorsed.
Columbiana County Republican Chairman David Johnson, who’s backing Timken, said the Republicans fear that Vance would lose the general election race to Democrats or not represent the GOP well in the Senate.
“We’re all Trump supporters,” Johnson said. “We’re just respectfully asking him to stay out of this U.S. Senate race.”
Trump’s endorsement isn’t looking decisive in all races. For example, former Georgia Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump recruited to challenge Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, is lagging in the polls and fundraising despite Trump’s backing and an in-state rally by the former president.
The leading Democrat in Ohio is U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who’s being challenged in the May 3 primary by Morgan Harper, a lawyer who worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in former President Barack Obama’s administration, and information technology executive Traci Johnson.
Businessman Bernie Moreno dropped out of the race Feb. 3 after speaking with Trump and saying that too many “Trump candidates” in the race could hurt the GOP’s chances. Dolan is the only candidate in the field who isn’t casting himself as a Trump acolyte.
Moreno said Trump’s endorsement would “100%” decide the primary race, given the popularity of the former president among Republicans in a state he won twice by about 8 percentage points.
