Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele described the vice presidential contest between Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) as a showdown between “country bumpkin elegy” and “real country bumpkin.”
“I think it’s going to be ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ versus a real hillbilly. It’s going to be Yale versus a guy who actually spent all his time on the ground fixing F-150s,” Steele, the political analyst, said on MSNBC on Tuesday.
Steele was referring to Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis,” which details the senator’s experiences growing up in Middletown, Ohio, surrounded by poverty and drug addiction.
In the book, Vance, a 40-year-old Marine Corps veteran and Yale Law School graduate, describes how Appalachia flipped from Democratic to Republican and his own chaotic family life.
Walz, who leads a heavily Democratic Midwestern state, has roots in rural America. He was born in West Point, Nebraska, and moved to southern Minnesota with his wife in the 1990s. Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, and has demonstrated an ability to connect with rural and veteran voters in past congressional elections.
“I’m his [Walz’s] “This story is a powerful story,” Steele added in the interview, a day after Vice President Harris named the Midwestern governor as her running mate.
Ms Harris, a Democrat from Minnesota, has climbed the ranks of Ms Harris’ running mate list by attacking former Republican President Donald Trump and Mr Vance, calling them “wackos.” She also recently challenged the Ohio senator’s shooting skills and said Mr Vance couldn’t hunt like Ms Harris.
Vance, who was added to the GOP nomination list at last month’s Republican National Convention, said he called Walz after the announcement to congratulate him, but criticized him as “far-left” and questioned Harris’ decision to prioritize him over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Steele pushed back against critics who have described Walz as “far-left” and a “progressive,” pointing to the governor’s voting record during his six terms in the House of Representatives.
“I don’t believe the assertion that some have made that this is a progressive candidate. If you look at his voting record in the Legislature, he is far from progressive, and last I checked, providing lunch and breakfast to kids is not progressive or conservative, it’s something a governor should do for the students in our state,” Steele said Tuesday about Walz’s push to provide free breakfast and lunch to all Minnesota children.
“I think there’s a lot of pushback on what the governor can say about what he’s done and how he’s led the state,” he added in his remarks. Highlighting From Mediaite.
Steele argued that the more difficult questions to answer relate to the response to protests four years ago that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“Again, I’m sure they’ve already figured out how to deal with that,” he added, “but I think this is a strong, strong choice.”
Republicans were quick to attack Governor Walz over the protests, with some accusing him of being a socialist because of his support for a number of progressive policies.
