A RIDE ON TRUMP FORCE TWO – Just a month after being named Donald Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance has been crisscrossing the country speaking directly to voters about the Republican Party’s message and how ordinary Americans like the rural Ohio where he grew up would benefit from their candidate.
Vance spoke to The Washington Post on board the newly refurbished Trump Force Two plane on Wednesday about his future on the campaign trail and his focus on showing key down-and-out voters in battleground states how President Trump’s economic and other domestic policies are built with the middle class in mind.
“The campaign obviously wants me to spend a lot of time in the industrial Midwest,” Vance said, noting he plans to hold more rallies and press conferences in key battleground states. “The bulk of my time will be spent in those three states.”
The Michigan campaign showed how Vance has used his Midwestern background to appeal to voters. He made several pilgrimages around Grand Rapids, Michigan, talking to voters, shaking hands and holding a baby, while also sharing personal stories about his family.
There, standing amid a building full of vintage cars, he told voters he wanted a fourth child and, onstage, detailed the role his grandmother, “Mamaw,” played in his life, shining with Midwestern charm and familiarity.
“I’m one of the lucky ones, I was able to achieve the American dream. I managed to make a life for myself because I had a mom who was very tough,” he said in his speech.
Vance is scheduled to continue his tour of the region’s biggest battleground states this week, with stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Being from the Midwest has worked to Vance’s advantage as he focused on speaking to local reporters and voters and cracking jokes about Ohio. The Byron Center crowd was riled up as Vance repeatedly attacked Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy and the border, arguing that her policies are devastating states like Michigan.
Trump advisers told reporters in West Palm Beach last week that they see Vance as another voice amplifying Trump’s message.
Vance was chosen from a list of other vice presidential candidates in part because his friend Donald Trump Jr. vouched for him as a staunch member of the MAGA movement. In an interview with Axios at the Republican National Convention, Trump said he thought there was a “high chance” that Vance would be elected president in 2028 and carry on Trump’s legacy movement.
Vance seemed genuinely surprised when The Washington Post featured Trump Jr.’s 2028 predictions.
He said running for president has not been discussed within the Trump camp, adding, “First we have to win.”
However, the 40-year-old hinted that he might run for president if the situation warranted.
“I’m super focused on winning this race. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want to win this race first,” Vance said.
Like Trump, Vance has been particularly harsh in his criticism of Harris over the past week, and has not focused much on her, even though Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, directly attacked Vance, referencing a fake and lewd Democratic meme.
In response to the attacks on Walz, Vance said he would not “fight fire with fire.”
“I’m not going to go after him personally. Everything I’ve said about him and everything I’m going to say now, I’ve said it already and I’m just repeating it,” Vance told The Post.
Vance said he would continue to address Walz’s misrepresentation of his military record because “stolen tales of heroism” “haunt him.”
Vance continued that instead of focusing on Walz, he would lean into attacking Harris because she is at the top of the list of candidates.
Vance’s name was added to the outside of Trump Force Two the day he was announced as Trump’s running mate. Inside, blue-and-white signs with messages related to Trump’s Agenda 47, such as “Clean up the swamp of corruption in Washington,” hang in the overhead bins and above the windows.
Vance first came into the spotlight after publishing “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling memoir that chronicled his family life and the hardships of his Ohio community. He has frequently referenced his Midwestern roots throughout his campaign, and both he and Trump have praised him for achieving the American dream despite the challenges he faced.
One of the defining moments in his career, as he recounts in his memoir, was attending Yale Law School, where he met his wife Usha, and the sense of accomplishment of graduating also inspired him to write the book.
There has been backlash at the Ivy League over anti-Israel student protests on campuses and Waltz’s suggestion that Vance was naive because he attended a prestigious school, but Vance said he still believes there is value in attending a prestigious school, even if as a conservative it can sometimes make him feel like “Russia or North Korea.”
While Walz has belittled Vance, an Ohio native, for his education at an elite school — an apparent attempt to make him seem out of touch with crucial swing-state voters and an East Coast elitist — Walz said Yale provided him with opportunities he never would have thought possible.
Attending an Ivy League university has the potential to “open a lot of doors” and provide networking opportunities, especially for kids who grew up like Vance did.
Still, Vance said it could feel “isolating” for people with “traditionally conservative views.”
He argued that Ivy League campuses have become “so totalitarian” that when the political leaning is 95 percent liberal and 5 percent conservative, “there is something artificial about that makeup” and “you have to start asking yourself if you’re living in Russia or North Korea.”
“I want my kids to go to a place like Ohio State where they can get a great education and make friends with more normal people,” he said, further garnering support from Midwestern voters.
