MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Sen. JD Vance gave his first public address since becoming the Republican nominee for vice president Monday at his hometown high school. The response was immense.
“You were born for this,” one attendee shouted as the standing ovation ended and Vance began his remarks.
“I graduated here 21 years ago, and a lot of you know the story of my family — hell, half of you probably are my family,” Vance opened with a wink, setting the tone for what would become more like a victory celebration than a campaign kickoff.
“My life was tough but surrounded by loving people and surrounded by something that if we don’t fight is going to be gone — and that’s opportunity,” Vance declared to raucous cheers in the fully packed auditorium.
Economic opportunity was the overriding theme of both the speech and the wider platform Vance said he hopes to build alongside presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“This country has made a lot of stupid decisions lately,” Vance said. “We allowed China to build their middle class off the backs of our own . . . but we’re going to fight.”
“Fight” might have been the most-spoken word during Vance’s speech both on and off stage. Chants of the word Trump shouted after surviving an assassination attempt routinely broke out in the crowd.
Vance promised he and Trump would fight for every worker and parent in the country.
“If you work hard and play by the rules you should be able to put a good dinner on the table and send your kids to whatever vacation you want,” he declared in a line that drew the loudest applause of the afternoon.
“I’m loving this,” Vance beamed from the podium.
The senator also addressed the elephant who recently exited the room — and the race — President Biden.
“I don’t like Biden or his policies, and I’m not a Dem primary voter but what is going on is absolutely disgraceful,” Vance said, his smile long gone.
“If you want to run for president. you’ve got to make your case to voters — that’s what Trump did, he ran and made his case. But the idea of picking the next nominee because Obama and George Soros got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Biden overboard is just wrong.”
Vance has called on Biden to resign the presidency or Democrats to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
Monday’s event was standing-room only with wraparound lines all morning. Some attendees arrived at 7 a.m. for the 1:30 p.m. speech.
Also outside were a small group of protesters across the road . Some held signs saying “Protect Roe,” “Never Again” or “Grab this election by the ballot.”
Security was extremely tight, with at least three SecretSservice agents visible both inside and outside the venue. There were also local police with rifles and armored vehicles.
Attendees inside said they were thrilled to have a local politician reach this level.
Will, an Army veteran, joked he would still vote for Marine Corp veteran Vance and said he hopes to hear him talk about about better funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We gave him his first job,” said the owners of local grocery Tillman Foods. “He was a wonderfully hard worker. He never gave us a bit of trouble.”
“There’s one way to do all of this,” Vance closed. “And that’s to elect Donald John Trump president of the United States.”
Vance then headed to Roanoke, Va., for his second rally of the day.