J.D. Vance is a man of media circuses. After breaking out in 2016 with a best-selling book on his Appalachian childhood, he made headlines in 2024 as Donald Trump’s choice for vice president, acting as the midwestern straight man to Trump’s louder personality. Since then, he’s faced backlash for calling women “childless cat ladies,” making up lies about Haïtian migrants, and acting all-around weird in a press stop for donuts. Despite all of the frenzy over his embarrassing slip-ups, Vance is not meant to be a Trump copy; instead, he’s meant to be the Republican Party’s midwestern magnet.
Vance has been trying to attract midwestern voters from the second he was on the ticket. His introductory speech to the Republican National Convention extrapolated from his own experiences, emphasizing his Meemaw’s traditional values and his childhood in Appalachia ravaged by welfare benefits, using stereotypical Midwestern values to argue his politics. Since then, he’s been trying to define the “Midwestern Nice” stereotype in the vice presidential debate, touting his past as a hunter and centering family values.
It’s a mockery. The Midwest is a varied, diverse region, which can’t be captured in one man’s experiences, certainly not when they’re exaggerated. His blue-collar front is disingenuous; not only did he attend Yale Law School and work as a Silicon Valley investor, but even his childhood saw middle-class comfort, as Rolling Stone reports his parents garnered six figures. Even his “family-values” grandmother attempted divorce twice, undercutting Vance’s narrative from his aforementioned best-seller. A quick glance at 538 polls shows the voters can tell, with the majority having an unfavorable opinion—as of Oct. 24, by 7.8 points.
It’s not a coincidence that Vance is reaching for the white midwestern vote. Jonathan Hanson, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, told reporters that the Midwest would be key for either party in the 2024 presidential elections. While it’s easy to forget here in blue-wall Minnesota, it’s worth noting that Joe Biden won Wisconsin by approximately 20,000 votes in 2020—less than the seating capacity of a National Football League stadium. Though Michigan’s margin was higher, with Biden winning about 150,000 more votes, it’s still attainable for the Republicans. After the Democrats lost those states in 2016, those margins were possible for Biden in 2020 through gains with the white, religious, suburban, and non-college-educated demographics.
Vance is a calculated attempt to gain ground. The Trump campaign brought him on to appeal to their idea of the average American, which is made all the more unfortunate by his reputation as a weird candidate with outlandish views. If Vance wants to get those demographics to vote red, he’d be more successful by wooing the public with his policy, not his poor attempts at plays to pathos. Until then, Vance’s circus will drag the Trump campaign down with him.
This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on November 4, 2024
