Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who just years ago reportedly described Donald Trump as an “idiot” and “America’s Hitler,” was announced on Monday as the former president’s 2024 running mate.
What happened?
“Sometimes raw ambition does that to people,” political strategist Darry Sragow told KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman.
Sragow said the former self-described “never-Trump guy’s” political transformation “could be heartfelt, but it could also be his deciding that there’s a path to great things in life.”
Republican strategist Brian Darling offered a different perspective, suggesting Vance’s views genuinely shifted during his brief time in Washington.
“I think once he had some opportunity to actually meet Donald Trump and spend some time with them, I think his opinion changed of him,” Darling said in an interview with Feldman. “And when you look at Trump, I mean, he's had a lot of critics in the Republican Party that have kind of come over to his side.”
Both Sragow and Darling agreed that Vance brings something major to the ticket: the “Hillbilly Elegy” author, who grew up in poverty in Appalachia, can appeal to voters in key Rust Belt swing states.
“What is going to matter the most in this election is what happens in Wisconsin, what happens in Michigan, what happens in Pennsylvania. Those are the three states that are going to decide who's gonna be the next president of the United States,” Darling said. “And J.D. Vance can speak to people in those states.”
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Sragow said that while the Biden-Harris ticket may appear to be more appealing to nonwhite voters, there are people of all races who “have suffered a great deal under current circumstances” economically, which the president will have to answer for.
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