JD Vance’s performance has audience of one: Trump, says former debate opponent

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U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks to reporters in the spin room after the CNN Presidential Debate in June 2024 in Atlanta, Ga. / Getty Images

Ohio’s freshman U.S. Sen. JD Vance will make his debate debut Tuesday night alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The former venture capitalist and author has had some missteps and stumbles since former President Donald Trump selected him as his running mate on the Republican ticket.

In less than two years in the Senate, he’s become a familiar political figure in Ohio. But only one Democrat in the country has had the experience of debating Vance on stage.

That’s Tim Ryan, the former Youngstown-area congressman whom Vance defeated after winning a seven-way Republican primary in 2022, on the strength of Trump’s endorsement.

“I think you'll see somebody being very aggressive at trying to frame the Harris-Walz ticket as super extreme, super out of touch. They'll be blamed for everything and the world's going to end if they get elected,” Ryan said about Vance on the debate stage. “He'll be hitting that hard because he has an audience of one, and that's Donald Trump.”

Vance’s conversion from Trump critic to cheerleader has been well-documented, but his about-face could still come up in the debate.

Ryan said some of Vance’s other controversial statements also seem likely to surface, such as the false and racist rumors he’s repeated about legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield and his negative comments about childless women.

The debate will be a chance for both Vance and his Democratic opponent, Walz, to present their policy positions to the broader American public, as most people are less familiar with them than with their partners on the presidential ticket.

Vance in particular will have to overcome lower favorability ratings.

“I don't know if it's who he really is or who he thinks he really is at this point,” Ryan said. “There's a real uncomfortableness to him, and he's also very thin-skinned and so he can fly off the handle a little bit if you hit him in the right spot.”

Ryan added that during the debate with Vance, Walz should be prepared to “fact-check him in real time”. CBS News, which is hosting the debate, said it will be up to the candidates to call out inaccurate statements rather than relying on its moderators.

Appeal to moderates

Republicans in Ohio celebrated Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate. And Republican strategist Mark Weaver said Vance has appealed to moderates who may be still deciding.

“Republicans are energized, and many independents are impressed by his policy expertise and his eagerness to deftly answer all press questions while campaigning,” said Weaver, a consultant who’s has worked with a range of Republicans, from local officials in Ohio to former President Ronald Reagan.

Weaver said Vance has sharpened his communications skills through interviews and rallies over the last few years. And no matter what happens in November, Weaver said Vance’s future is “all blue sky – he’ll either be the Vice President and President of the Senate or a first term Senator with a higher profile than his peers elected in 2022.”

But there are Republicans who’ve been frustrated with Trump. At least two GOP county party chairs resigned after Trump’s election bid in 2020.

One of them went all the way across the aisle.

“As a local Democratic Chair who came to the party after spending twenty years in local GOP administration, my expectations for JD Vance on the debate stage could not be lower,” said Chris Gibbs, who now leads the Democratic Party in Shelby County in northwest Ohio.

Trump won that county with 81% of the vote in 2020.

“I predict Vance will spend ninety minutes affirming that the legacy core GOP principles of diplomacy, statesmanship, personal responsibility, and compassion have all but been extinguished from a once-serious party,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs said as a farmer managing both crops and livestock, he wants to hear both candidates talk about immigration, trade, tariffs, biofuels and the Farm Bill, rather than personal attacks he expects Vance will launch at Walz.