Former President Donald Trump plans to endorse JD Vance in the Ohio GOP Senate primary, according to a report from NBC News that cited three unnamed sources “with knowledge of his decision.”
Upon learning of Trump’s potential choice, the Ohio GOP Central Committee and around three dozen Republican Party county chairs across the state authored a letter encouraging Trump to avoid backing a candidate in the Senate primary, Fox News wrote.
Sources told Fox News that the campaigns of Senate candidates Josh Mandel, Mike Gibbons, and Jane Timken played a role in the letter, which the media outlet reportedly obtained from a representative of one of the GOP Senate campaigns.
Vance has taken heat from opponents about his critical social media comments about Trump in 2016. The Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist apologized for denouncing Trump in now-deleted tweets that said he would not vote for Trump and would instead support Evan McMullin, who ran as an Independent. Vance called the future president “reprehensible” and wrote that he makes people “I care about” afraid.
The letter urging Trump to refrain from endorsing a Senate candidate references Vance’s opposition to Trump before the 2016 presidential election.
“While we were working hard in Ohio to support you and Make America Great Again, JD Vance was actively working against your candidacy. He referred to your supporters as ‘racists’ and proudly voted for Evan McMullin in 2016.
“Importantly, JD Vance is not, and has never been a registered Republican. To have someone who has not voted in a Republican primary carrying the mantel for the party is troubling.”
It is uncertain where Vance clearly stands in the crowded race to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman.
In a Fox News poll released on March 7, conducted by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research from March 2 to 6, Gibbons led public opinion with 22 percent support, followed by Mandel (20 percent), Vance (11 percent), former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken (9 percent), state Sen. Matt Dolan (7 percent), businessman Neil Patel (2 percent), and businessman Mark Pukita (1 percent).
Republican pollster David Lee conducted a survey for Protect Ohio Values, a pro-Vance super PAC, that was released on April 6 and showed Vance, Gibbons, and Mandel in a tie for the lead at 18 percent each.
On the same day the Protect Ohio Values poll was revealed, Timken’s campaign announced an internal poll indicating that Gibbons was in first with 20 percent followed by Mandel (16 percent), Timken (15 percent), Dolan (13 percent), and Vance (10 percent).
Remington Research, a polling organization that has worked with Mandel’s campaign, distributed a memo on April 14 to select Republicans contending that even a Trump endorsement would not make a serious contender.
“JD Vance will still lose even with President Trump’s endorsement. JD Vance is widely known by Republican Primary voters for his Never-Trumper comments and his calling Trump supporters ‘racists,’” Remington Research Group President Titus Bond wrote in the memo. “Since he is already known to Ohioans as a self-proclaimed ‘Never Trumper’ and voters will forcefully be reminded of that, Vance will still lose even with President Trump’s endorsement.”
Reportedly, Trump’s team wrote a draft announcing the Vance endorsement, but a source from Mandel’s campaign pointed out to Trump that an internal poll indicated their candidate leads the race at 33 percent followed by Gibbons and state Sen. Matt Dolan at 15 percent, and Vance and Timken at 9 percent.
The survey also showed that Vance would improve to 15 percent with a Trump endorsement, only good enough for a three-way tie for second behind Mandel at 19 percent.
An Emerson College poll from February reported that more than 6 in 10 likely Ohio Republican primary voters claim a Trump endorsement would make them more likely to vote for that candidate.
“Nothing is final until it’s final. So Trump can always change his mind,” a source who recently talked to Trump about the Ohio Senate race told NBC News. “But he already kicked the tires on everyone and he’s ready to go with Vance. It’s either Vance or nobody. And it’s only nobody if somehow the other campaigns can get him to hold off.”
In response to the letter to Trump, a source connected to the Vance campaign said, “Failing campaigns sometimes band together. It is surprising that they don’t know that Donald Trump actually knows what Vance said about Trump in the past.”
During his campaign stops, Vance often explains how his viewpoint of Trump evolved over time.
“It’s one of the most poorly kept secrets in this race that I was a critic of Trump in 2016, thanks to my opposition,” Vance said. “But I also think that people care about what you actually think about the issues, what you think about the substance, and whether you’ve got a credible argument for why you changed your mind and why Trump proved you wrong. I think I do. Trump seems to think that, and I think a lot of voters do as well.”
Donald Trump Jr. has publicly defended Vance, writing that “JD is 100% America First” in a recent tweet, and attended a fundraiser for the candidate in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this month.
Less than two weeks ahead of the May 3 primary, Trump will headline a rally on April 23 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, a community located 31 miles north of Columbus.Trump stumped for former aide Max Miller during his last visit to Ohio in June 2021. Miller is running in the 7th Congressional District. It is uncertain if Trump will issue endorsements for the GOP Senate and gubernatorial races before or at the April 23 Save America rally.
Lisa Stickan, who is chair of the Cuyahoga County GOP and one of the letter’s authors, hopes that Trump opts to not back a candidate in the primary.
“It’s so late in the game and to come out with an endorsement now serves no purpose in helping the party,” Stickan said.
