The GOP’s vice presidential nominee JD Vance is proving a popular name on the campaign trail - for Democrats.
Donald Trump’s running mate has provided a wealth of controversial material — from a comment about ‘childless cat ladies’ to his views on abortion — that Democratic operatives have seized on to bolster their candidates against down-ballot Republicans.
Democrats plan to tie any Senate candidates who stump with Vance “to the extreme positions that Senator Vance has taken, the comments that he’s made that are completely out of step with where a majority of the American people are,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Gary Peters (Mich.). “Throughout their campaigning with him, that’s their endorsement of his positions, and they’ll have to defend it.”
Democrats in the House are echoing that strategy. House Majority PAC said in a press release that GOP Rep. John Duarte, who represents a competitive California district, welcomed Vance “with open arms” when he came to Coalinga for a fundraiser this week.
A spokesperson said the political action committee will continue to link vulnerable Republicans to Vance, especially after an unearthed interview had Vance arguing for higher taxes on childless Americans — a tough connection for Republicans like Duarte who have campaigned on lower prices and tax relief.
Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick to much fanfare last month, with GOP operatives predicting that his humble Ohio roots could benefit House Republicans in Midwestern districts. Sen. Steve Daines (Mont.), who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the Marine veteran “connects with the working class voters we need to win this election.”
But the onslaught of reports about his previous comments, including his disparagement of Trump, have encouraged Democrats and led to some quiet Republican grumbling about the choice.
A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of registered voters in swing states found that just 34% had a very or somewhat favorable view of Vance, while 41% had a very or somewhat unfavorable view.
“The choice may be one of the best things he ever did for Democrats,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on CBS.
House Democrats’ campaign arm this week launched a video intercutting Vance’s past anti-abortion comments with clips of Republicans like Reps. Juan Ciscomani (Arizona) and Monica De La Cruz (Texas) praising him.
“House Republicans and candidates enthusiastically supporting J.D. Vance is no surprise given their shared extremism, archaic views on women, and deeply unpopular plan to ban abortion nationwide,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen said in a statement.
Vance, who had previously described himself as “100 percent pro-life,” has since said he subscribes to Trump’s position that states should decide abortion limits.
Some Republicans have distanced themselves from Vance’s abortion stands and emphasized their own positions.
Ciscomani has cited his own daughters, saying he would never want an overly broad law to jeopardize their health, and publicly supports exceptions to abortion restrictions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
Other vulnerable Republicans have highlighted those same exceptions and painted Democrats’ stances on abortion access, not theirs, as the extreme.
Lagging in Ohio
In Vance’s home state, where Republicans hope for a down-ballot boost driven by a vice presidential nominee from Ohio, the senator’s popularity may be lagging, at least in one competitive district .
Democrats were encouraged by a poll released this week by Inside Elections that found Vance’s approval rating underwater in a nationally watched House race in his home state. In Ohio’s 9th district, where Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur is defending a seat centered in Toledo that Trump carried in 2020, Vance had a 43% approval rating and 48% disapproval, the poll found. Harris’s approval ratings were evenly split 47-47.
Vance also lost all three of Ohio’s competitive House districts during his 2022 Senate run, even as fellow a Republican, Gov. Mike DeWine, won big in those districts.
One of those Ohio swing districts, represented by Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman, includes Vance’s current residence in Cincinnati. Landsman rejected the idea that Vance will help Republicans win working-class voters or boost the GOP in the Midwest.
He said the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps message of Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” is insulting to many of his constituents who are hardworking but haven’t gotten a fair shake.
Landsman also said Vance’s more divisive comments on topics like abortion and childless adults don’t match the views of pragmatic voters in his district.
“They know Vance as a flamethrower, as part of what they don’t want anymore in their politics,” Landsman said. “They want a return to normal, and on the policy side, they want politicians to elected officials to stay out of their lives unless they’re helping. And that’s not Vance.”
The Vance campaign did not respond to a request for comment, although he has acknowledged his campaign had an uneven start.
‘Too Extreme’
Republicans have counted by focusing on Harris’s record, particularly on issues such as immigration and crime. A recent ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm, connects House Democrats to Harris and contends that the presidential nominee is “too extreme” for America.
The ad includes Harris’ past comments about immigration and police overhaul as well as clips of vulnerable Democrats like Reps. Eric Sorensen (Ill.) and Mary Peltola (Alaska). Peltola hasn’t endorsed in the presidential race, but most of her House colleagues have coalesced around Harris since President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid last month.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who’s up for re-election in November, defended Vance as an asset on the campaign trail.
“I think he embodies the transformation of the Republican Party in the recent decades,” Cruz said, “that we have become a blue collar party, and I think JD gets that in his gut and is fighting hard for that.”
Jonathan Tamari in Washington, D.C. also contributed to this story.
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