An Ohio newspaper editor has repeated the argument that Sen. J.D. Vance is “weird” while suggesting it is an “appropriate” description for Donald Trump’s running mate.
Speaking to MSNBC, Chris Quinn, editor-in-chief of cleveland.com/The simple merchantsaid the controversy surrounding the Republican vice presidential nominee’s previous comments about women, abortion and the childless is not surprising given how Ohio Republican politics have played out during his 2022 election campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and her allies are among those who have called former President Donald Trump, Vance and other GOP figures “weird” as they run for 2024.
Polls suggest that the attack line is beginning to resonate with the public. A Data for Progress poll found that 79 percent of voters, including 78 percent of independents, think that “insulting women and couples who don’t have children” is a “weird” thing for a politician to do. Voters also agree that Republicans are “weirder” today than they were a decade ago, by a 26-point margin.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, Quinn suggested that Vance had been making disparaging statements for years to help his political career in Ohio.
“I wish we had come up with the word ‘weird’ because it fits perfectly with what he’s saying,” Quinn said.
“I don’t think we’re surprised by the statements that are coming out now, because of the way Ohio operates. I don’t know if people realize that over 70 percent of this state is not registered with a political party.
“So when it comes to party primaries, it’s a very small percentage of people who make that choice, and it’s turned the primaries into a competition to be the most outrageous.”
Newsweek contacted Vance’s office by email for comment.
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP/Getty Images
Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegywon the Republican primary for Ohio’s Senate seat in 2022, largely thanks to Trump’s support.
Quinn suggested that all of Ohio’s Republican Senate candidates were saying “outrageous” things in order to gain Trump’s support in the primary race.
“Now everyone looks at what he said and says, ‘Man, that’s really weird,’ but that’s what you had to do in the party primaries to get elected,” he said.
“If we had open primaries in Ohio, [Vance] He wouldn’t have won. Central Ohio would never have chosen him to be on the final ballot, but the small group of people who are currently choosing candidates are as marginal as they come, so you have to make “cat lady” comments to get on the ballot.
Vance has previously denied the notion that he is weird, saying he is a “pretty normal guy. I have a wife and kids, and I like to go out and watch football. And I care about all that because I care about the country.”
In an interview on the Complete shipment In his podcast, Vance suggested that the attack phrase came from Harris’ “24-year-old social media interns who may have been bullied in school and now decided they were going to do the same thing.”
Elsewhere, Quinn said Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate could hurt the Republican ticket’s chances in 2024 in Ohio.
For decades, Ohio was considered a go-to state for correctly determining the winner of presidential elections. However, that trend ended in 2020, when Trump held Ohio but lost the election to President Joe Biden.
Ohio is considered a red state that Trump will win in November, although Quinn suggests it could now be in play for Harris.
“Trump wasn’t a criminal when he ran. Now he is, and people in central Ohio are paying attention to this stuff, and they just might not want to vote for him or for Vance,” Quinn said.
“I think a lot will come down to who the vice presidential nominee is and whether Harris can keep that momentum going,” Quinn added.
“She’s clearly energizing people, including in Ohio towns that mattered to Obama, but can you make this likeable vice presidential candidate the contrast to the weird J.D. Vance?”
