Array
Republican candidate J.D. Vance, who received former President Trump’s endorsement in a crowded primary race earlier this year, was projected Tuesday to win the Ohio Senate race.
NBC News and ABC News both called the race.
Vance defeated 20-year Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who represents Akron and Youngstown, and made the contest surprisingly close by appealing to swing voters in eastern Ohio.
Republican J.D. Vance was projected to win the Ohio Senate race against Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). (Associated Press)
Trump played a key role in the race by endorsing Vance in the Republican primary, where he came from behind to defeat former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and businessman Mike Gibbons.
Vance, the author of the best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy,” was stuck in single digits in the polls and third place before he stormed to the front of the pack in the primary, buoyed by Trump’s endorsement and the damage that Mandel and Gibbons inflicted on each other with personal attacks.
Vance has criticized Trump in the past, telling interviewer Charlie Rose in 2016 that he was “a Never Trump guy” and “never liked him.”
But Vance decided to embrace Trump during the primary and praised him in April as “the best president of my lifetime.”
Trump has reveled in Vance’s turnaround.
“J.D. is kissing my ass; he wants my support so much,” Trump quipped at a recent campaign rally in Youngstown.
