About Last Night: Vance Wins Ohio GOP Senate Primary

In a matter of just a few weeks, JD Vance went from floundering to a comfortable win in the Ohio GOP Primary for US Senate, thanks to a Donald Trump endorsement.

Cleveland Plain Dealer:

A late-breaking endorsement from Republican ex-President Donald Trump was enough to boost Senate hopeful J.D. Vance to victory in Tuesday night’s Ohio Republican primary for retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman’s seat, according to Associated Press projections.

Vance, an author and former Trump critic, now will face Rep. Tim Ryan of the Niles area, who won the Democratic primary, in the general election in November. Vance’s win marks an end to a months-long, costly and often ugly struggle in the Republican primary as nearly all of the candidates tried to present themselves as the staunchest ally of Trump in the state.

The Associated Press called the race for Vance at around 9:35 p.m. with around 50% of precincts reporting statewide.

“The question presented in this primary was do we want to have a border that protects our citizens?” Vance said during his victory speech in Cincinnati. “Do we want to ship our jobs to China or keep them right here, in America for American workers and the American people?”

“Do we want a Republican Party that stands for the donors who write checks to the Club for Growth,” Vance said, name-checking the PAC that ran millions of attack ads against him highlighting his past anti-Trump comments. “Or do we want a Republican Party for the people right here in Ohio?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we just answered that question.”

Vance’s victory was anything but unifying for the Ohio Republican Party. County party chairs and grassroots activists were highly critical of Trump’s selection and many remain suspicious over Vance’s transformation from a self-described “never Trump guy” to dogmatic Trump loyalist. After Trump endorsed Vance in mid-April, the race transformed into a proxy war of sorts between the ex-president, who’s looking to maintain his grip over the Republican Party, and the Club for Growth, a powerful conservative, anti-tax group in Washington, D.C. that backed Josh Mandel, the former state treasurer.

Vance made conciliatory comments about all his major Republican opponents during his victory speech on Tuesday. Only Mandel’s name drew a few boos.

Vance, who had spent most of the race bouncing around second to fourth place in polling, absolutely benefited from Donald Trump picking him, much to the chagrin of some of Ohio’s Republican Party folks. There is no denying the Trump effect here. This was a mess, at times very ugly, primary battle, especially between JD Vance and now three-time Senate loser Josh Mandel who now has the ignominy of having spent a quarter of his life running for US Senate with nothing but the friends he made along the way to show for it. Both had done everything humanly possible to get the coveted seal of approval from the 45th president, but in the end JD Vance with his name recognition, connections, and positioning that got the nod, along with a full court press of TrumpWorld all-stars streaming in endorsements and appearances.

Vance will face Tim Ryan, who won his Democratic primary easily, for the Ohio senate seat in the general election.