RADFORD — Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance flew into the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport and headed to the Dedmon Center at Radford University for his second Monday campaign stop.
The candidate’s arrival in Virginia came a day after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the top spot on the Democratic ticket. A number of Virginia Democrats followed suit and backed Harris.
Prior to Vance’s appearance in the commonwealth, Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger — who’s running for governor — referenced the candidate’s 2021 comments that former President Donald Trump should “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, [and] replace them with our people” in a social media post.
“Thousands of Virginians are federal employees,” Spanberger wrote. “Their livelihoods and service as civil servants shouldn’t be political punching bags.”
Hours away from Spanberger’s district, rally attendees lined up outside the Dedmon Center.
Elizabeth Bradbury said she wasn’t too familiar with Vance until recently.
“We watched ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ which is really insightful,” said Bradbury, who attended the rally with her husband, Tony. “It's good to know he's overcome a lot to get where he is today. And I think that'll make him stronger.”
Vance detailed his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio — a city between Dayton and Cincinnati — in “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir that was later turned into a Netflix feature film. He also served in the Marine Corps, attended Yale Law School and worked in finance before entering politics. He’s currently amid his first term as Ohio’s junior U.S. senator.
Kim Bowman, a member of the Christiansburg Town Council, also attended the event.
“I like that he backs Trump policies, first of all,” she said. “And I like that he is younger, and I feel like he would be fully ready to step into position as president four years from now.”
Inside the rally, attendees wore bright-red MAGA hats, pink hats, camo hats, hats with rhinestones on them and hats emblazoned with military insignias. They chanted “U.S.A.” and held colorful signs in support of the newly minted GOP ticket.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith and Hung Cao, who’s running for U.S. Senate, spoke ahead of Vance. Common themes, like Biden’s border policy emerged — and were reiterated by each speaker.
Vance took the stage and, recasting a statement he made earlier in the day, questioned Harris’ loyalty to the country, asking “What the hell have you done?” He went on to recount the failed assassination attempt on Trump as the crowd responded with a chorus of “fight, fight, fight.”
The candidate also assured rallygoers that Virginia would turn red and touted Republican leadership in the commonwealth, specifically naming Gov. Glenn Youngkin and several other political figures in attendance.
Vance also discussed his background, saying that he’s from a community affected by Democrats’ failed policies and “broken leadership.” He recounted his mother’s struggle with opioid addiction and blamed cartels for bringing fentanyl, “this poison,” into the country.
In 2023, the Virginia Department of Health reported there were about 1,700 deaths connected to fentanyl and "other synthetic opioids" in the state. That number’s down slightly from its 2021 peak.
Vance, who repeatedly drew comparisons between his hometown and rural Virginia during his remarks, also made sure to reference his grandmother: “I called her ‘mamaw.’ We’re in Appalachia, right? We have mamaws.”
The campaign sending Vance to Virginia during his first handful of public appearances after getting the nomination follows a number of pundits and polls indicating the commonwealth could be in play this presidential cycle.
Biden won the state in 2020 by about 10 percentage points.
