Former president Donald Trump on Friday made his second controversial endorsement in as many weeks, tossing a lifeline to the struggling Senate campaign of Ohio native and venture capitalist J.D. Vance.
But the endorsement, which came at 5 p.m. on Good Friday, wasn’t without some typical Trump bitterness
“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump said in his statement of endorsement, while relenting that Vance is “our best chance for victory” in the race.
ADVERTISEMENT
“In the Great State of Ohio, the candidate most qualified and ready to win in November is J.D. Vance,” the statement said. “We cannot play games. It is all about winning!”
Trump appeared preoccupied with the most salient criticisms of Vance, regarding Vance’s many attacks on Trump’s character and policies during the 2016 election. Those remarks have plagued Vance’s campaign from the start, and it has long appeared that the only thing that could dispel them is the forgiveness and blessing of Trump himself.
“This is not an easy endorsement for me to make because I like and respect some of the other candidates in the race—they’ve said great things about ‘Trump’ and, like me, they love Ohio and love our Country,” the statement said, going on to later call those rivals “pretenders and wannabes.”
Trump avoided an endorsement in the crowded primary for quite a while, not taking a shine naturally to any of the candidates. The contest has been a “race to the bottom” for months, marked by fierce infighting for the MAGA vote.
Until now, Vance, a wealthy tech investor whose 2016 memoir made him a household name, had been that fight’s biggest loser, consistently trailing frontrunner Mike Gibbons and former state treasurer Josh Mandel.
In February, Politico reported that an internal poll had concluded Vance was in “precipitous decline” and “needs a course correction ASAP.” He is “still ideologically misaligned,” the pollsters said, adding that “driving his negatives is the perception that he is anti-Trump.”
However, the poll said a Trump endorsement could as much as triple Vance’s chances in the state.
While Vance got what he wanted, it’s unclear how the MAGAverse will receive the move, especially given the backlash last week to Trump’s endorsement of Dr. Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
And Trump’s own statement seemed aware of this fact.
“Ohio has been good to me, I won it twice, really BIG, and I have likewise been GREAT for Ohio,” Trump said. “Let’s keep it going!”
