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LIMA: The message was clear as US Vice President JD Vance shook hands in his native Ohio with a woman wearing a \u201cVance 2028\u201d cap \u2014 at least from his supporter\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s deputy has yet to declare that he will run for the White House in two years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
But what was supposed to be a campaign rally on Friday for Republican candidates in November\u2019s US midterm elections in Lima, Ohio looked a lot more like a Vance rally.<\/p>\n
With a theatrical flourish, Vance descended from the steps of Air Force Two, the vice presidential jet, and received a rapturous reception as he entered the event in a flag-draped airport hangar.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, it feels good to be home,\u201d Vance said to cheers.<\/p>\n
Unusually for Vance on the campaign trail, he then went down to greet the crowd in person \u2014 shaking hands, patting arms and meeting the lady with the black pro-Vance hat.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s just one problem for Vance: the midterms themselves.<\/p>\n
Polls show Trump\u2019s unpopularity, the Iran war and the price of living could cost Republicans their majority in Congress.<\/p>\n
And Ohio \u2014 which voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections \u2014 has turned from a stronghold into one of the tightest electoral battlegrounds for the November 3 vote.<\/p>\n
\u2018Nothing to do with 2028\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n There are nail-biting races for Vance\u2019s old senate seat, currently held by Jon Husted, and for the governorship of Ohio, where former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is standing.<\/p>\n In a sign of Republican concerns, Vance\u2019s visit comes days after Trump traveled to the state, and the 80-year-old president is due back there next week.<\/p>\n For Trump, losing control of Congress could mean he spends his last two years in office battling multiple Democrat-led investigations.<\/p>\n For Vance, losing Ohio could seriously damage a political brand that was largely built on the blue-collar roots in the state described in his bestselling memoir \u201cHillbilly Elegy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, look, I think it has nothing to do with 2028,\u201d he insisted to reporters when asked how important it was to win Ohio for Republicans as he looked to a presidential run.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to do with how we\u2019re going to govern our country over the next two years, the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Vance\u2019s comments, the race for 2028 will effectively start the day after the midterms.<\/p>\n While Vance is widely considered the frontrunner to be Trump\u2019s heir, he\u2019s made no announcement yet and it\u2019s far from a done deal.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he won\u2019t run against Vance but his speech on western civilization against the backdrop of the Acropolis in Athens was widely seen as a pitch for the job.<\/p>\n Family man<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a growing buzz around the youthful vice president.<\/p>\n Like any good candidate, Vance is increasingly bringing his family on the stump.<\/p>\n The 42-year-old took his wife Usha, three of their four children and their dog Atlas on Air Force Two for the flight to Cincinnati, where Vance cast an early vote for the midterms.<\/p>\n Vance is also raising money. His role as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee puts him at the center of a nexus of wealthy donors.<\/p>\n Politically, Vance is quietly trying to exorcise the vice president\u2019s curse of being tied to the policies of the outgoing president \u2014 one that Kamala Harris suffered from in 2024.<\/p>\n His speeches have subtly positioned him as more conscious of the financial woes of US families, even as Trump dismisses what he calls the \u201caffordability hoax.\u201d<\/p>\n Staking out his own positions also helps counter the idea that Vance is a political shape-shifter \u2014 he once compared Trump to Hitler before becoming his vice president.<\/p>\n The recent Catholic convert on Friday sought to distance himself from another key administration figure, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, over the announcement that a US military firing squad execution would be livestreamed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen these announcements. I don\u2019t know that that\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Vance told an AFP reporter traveling with him on Friday, adding that if it was going to be \u201cthrough livestream, I\u2019m not going to be watching it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n