Former President Donald Trump is endorsing Republican author J.D. Vance in the crowded GOP primary for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat.
Vance’s campaign announced the endorsement in a statement Friday, saying Trump is calling Vance a “true America First fighter” and his picks are “so important because they mean so much.” Vance, one of the breakouts in Republican politics since the publication of his book “Hillbilly Elegy” in 2016, is running for the central Ohio Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
“I am for America First because that’s the best thing for the American people,” Vance said in the statement, referring to Trump’s political movement.
Vance is part of a crowded field of Republicans running for the Senate seat. The candidates include former Republican state party chairwoman Jane Timken, former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, and two other former state party chairs.
A backer of Trump’s agenda but also routinely critical of the former president during the 2016 campaign, Vance has been seen as a candidate who could appeal to voters across the GOP’s ideological spectrum. He has argued that Trump voters are his core supporters, branding himself as a pillar of the working-class voter base that fueled Trump’s 2016 victory.
There has been no Democratic endorsement in Ohio’s Senate race and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who toured a Cleveland veterans hospital alongside Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, didn’t directly answer a question on her preference.
“We have a very long list of extraordinary leaders here in Ohio who are running for this office,” Harris said.
Vance’s credential as a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a survivor of the Iraq War have been central to his pitch as a candidate.