Tipsheet

Here's How Democrats Reacted to Trump's VP Pick

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  July 15, 2024 6:35 PM

Earlier on Monday, former and potentially future President Donald Trump named Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, a pick that was announced during the roll call vote to formally nominate Trump at the RNC in Milwaukee. Democrats in Ohio and around the country were quick to put statements to lambast the move.

As Fox News' Chad Pergram shared about the Ohio Democratic Party and other Democrats, a statement from the state party came out right away. 

Speaking about having "a front row seat for J.D.'s political career," the statement from Ohio Democrats early on mentioned how " J.D. Vance is an out-of-touch millionaire who launched his political career by taking advantage of Ohio's opioid crisis and has spent his time in the Senate humiliating himself in the service of a convicted felon instead of working to improve the quality of life for Ohioans."

That part of the statement leaves out what many others have highlighted about Vance, which is how he's come from humble beginnings as detailed in his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," which has enabled him to connect with other working-class Americans. 

There's a line about "service" meant to be used against Vance by connecting him with Trump, but another way of looking at it is how Vance is a veteran. He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Iraq War. Neil W. McCabe at our sister site of RedState put out a piece highlighting Vance's military career. 

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The statement also went on to fixate on an issue that Democrats just remain absolutely obsessed with: abortion. "His support for a national abortion ban and his twisted belief that women should stay in violent marriages for the benefit of their children exemplifies his dangerous extremism. He's not just wrong for Ohio, he's wrong for the country," that same paragraph read about Vance.

Vance, like Trump, is pro-life and has made comments in support of leaving the abortion issue up to the states. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called Vance's selection "a strong pick." As for that bizarre claim about "his twisted belief that women should stay in violent marriages for the benefit of their children," Vance denounced such a claim over two years ago. 

"But with Vance’s history of political shapeshifting, he’s the perfect fit for a president whose empty promises of bringing jobs back to Ohio were secondary to spreading lies about a disease that killed 400,000 Americans all while devastating public trust in our government, and ripping away the foundation of our democracy," the statement went on to read. 

It's particularly noteworthy that the statement would talk about supposedly "ripping away the foundation of our democracy" when Trump just survived an assassination attempt on Saturday. That same night, Elizabeth Walters, chairwoman of the Ohio Democrats, had the decency to post a statement wishing Trump well and also mention how "Political violence has absolutely no place in our democracy and we all must condemn it to the highest degree."

Despite these comments about how Vance is supposedly "wrong for Ohio" and "Ohio has buyers' remorse," Vance won the 2022 crowded Republican Senate primary and the general election against now former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH). The candidate Vance endorsed in the primary to face Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown in a true Toss-Up race this November, Bernie Moreno, won the nomination in March. 

The DNC also put out a statement on Vance, in addition to so far posting and reposting multiple times about Vance since the announcement was made, including to solicit donations. 

"This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and with Donald Trump’s decision today to add J.D. Vance to the Republican ticket, the stakes of this election just got even higher. J.D. Vance embodies MAGA – with an out-of-touch extreme agenda and plans to help Trump force his Project 2025 agenda on the American people. Vance has championed and enabled Trump’s worst policies for years – from a national abortion ban, to whitewashing January 6, to railing against Social Security and Medicare," the statement read. "Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future. There is so much on the line, and it’s more important than ever that we reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this November."

Such a statement is quite similar to the Ohio Democrats' statement, though it also desperately tries to connect Trump and now Vance to Project 2025, which is the work of the Heritage Foundation and not at all affiliated with the Trump campaign, a point which fact-checkers have also confirmed. 

Further, as Madeline covered earlier on Monday, Trump reaffirmed how he was not involved with Project 2025 in an interview with Fox News' Harris Faulkner that was conducted on Saturday, hours before he was shot. In that interview, he also said Project 2025 went "way too far."

It looks to be a common theme, too, to still see claims about how the Trump-Vance ticket would supposedly "undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future," despite the assassination attempt that occurred less than two days before.

Pergram also posted how Biden has called Vance "a clone of Trump on the issues," as well as how Vice President Kamala Harris left a message for Vance which mentioned in part a hope that they can meet for the vice presidential debate proposed by CBS News. Such a debate had been proposed in May, with the dates of July 23 or August 13 mentioned as possibilities.