Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, with the state's midterm primaries coming up on May 3, on Monday launched a new advertising campaign touting the endorsement he's received from former President Donald Trump.
"J.D. is the conservative outsider who will continue Trump's fight to secure our borders, protect the unborn, get rid of the corrupt politicians, and stop Joe Biden," the spot says. "J.D. Vance – Marine, author of 'Hillbilly Elegy,' President Trump's endorsed America First conservative."
The 30-second ad wraps up with Vance speaking to the camera and commenting that "Trump fought back and so have I. Now I'll take our fight to the U.S. Senate."
Vance is fighting against a wide slate of GOP candidates to succeed Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who is retiring.
According to Vance's campaign, the statewide buy for the new ad is for $500,000, and the effort is part of a seven-figure spending push during the last two weeks before the May election.
Trump endorsed Vance Friday afternoon, calling him the "most qualified and ready to win."
"This is not an easy endorsement for me to make because I like and respect some of the other candidates in the race – they've said some great things about 'Trump' and, like me, they love Ohio and they love our country," he said, adding that Vance is the one candidate most likely to defeat Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan, who is expected to win his party's nomination in the Senate race.
Vance told Breitbart News over the weekend that the Trump endorsement is "hugely important and powerful."
"I felt confident before we got the endorsement. Man, I feel very confident now," Vance said. "I think frankly if we were 20 points behind, we'd probably still win, but we're going to win this thing now."
He admitted that he was not an early Trump supporter but he changed his mind after seeing how the former president had come under attack.
"It made me realize, you know, if all these corrupt people" were attacking Trump, then he had to be "doing something special and doing something right," he said.
Vance added that Trump is endorsing him because he "sees me as a guy who actually carries on his agenda."
Vance and Trump will appear together this Saturday at a rally the former president has planned at the Delaware County fairgrounds, located near Columbus, Ohio's capital city.
The former president endorsed Vance over several other powerful Republicans vying for the party nomination to replace Portman, including Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland entrepreneur, real estate developer, and investment banker who co-chaired the fundraising for Trump's 2016 Ohio campaign; former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel; and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken. State Sen. Matt Dolan, a former state assistant attorney general, did not seek Trump's endorsement.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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