Best-selling author, venture capitalist… and soon to be a senator? JD Vance won a highly anticipated Republican primary on Tuesday in Ohio. A victory that bears the seal of Donald Trump and confirms the ascendancy that the former president has taken over the Republican Party. Vance, an outsider of American politics, once very critical of Donald Trump, whom he had even called “idiot”, had received his support during the campaign. “If I stopped at that, honestly, I would not support many people”, had confided the former president about the insults.
Vance had then gradually caught up with the other two main candidates, including the experienced Josh Mandel, former state treasurer. He has been described by Trump as the Republican “best chance of victory” in a state with a tight ballot next November that could be decisive for control of the Senate.
Flawless Trumpist
He will face Tim Ryan, current Democratic congressman in Ohio, in a match which will be a test in the working-class electorate. Ryan claims his closeness to blue-collar workers, but JD Vance, 37, whose mother suffered from addiction, is the author of ‘Hillbilly Eligy’, an autobiographical bestseller that describes poverty in his hometown of Middletown . Released a few months before the 2016 presidential election, the novel has often been cited among the best explanations for Donald Trump’s victory, with the feeling of abandonment by the white middle classes of the industrial Midwest.
This Republican primary saw record funding fall, JD Vance receiving, for example, more than 13 million dollars from libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel, his boss in a Californian investment fund and close to Donald Trump.
With this victory, Trump strikes a blow and begins in the best possible way a series of primaries that could definitively establish his hold on the Republican Party. In the coming weeks, the conservatives must choose their candidates in Pennsylvania, Georgia or Arizona, all key states in November.
The left behind
In addition to JD Vance, two other Trumpist candidates won in Ohio and will covet a seat in the House of Representatives in November: his former White House adviser Max Miller and JR Majewski, a veteran who laid down his arms at hand in his campaign clips. In Indiana, self-proclaimed “pro-Trump” Erin Houchin beat her Republican rivals. Candidates who have focused their campaign on the refusal of immigration, the rivalry with China or even zero tolerance towards drugs. It’s almost a no-fault for the former president, who could count on a Congress committed to his cause to prepare his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.
In the Democratic camp, the left wing did not hold its bets. Nina Turner, backed by Bernie Sanders, failed to beat incumbent Shontel Brown, Ohio. Good news for Joe Biden, who had supported the latter and who is trying to contain the progressive push in his camp.
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