Voters in Ohio and Indiana went to the polls Tuesday for two of the first primaries of this midterm election cycle. In Ohio, J.D. Vance won the Republican Senate primary after securing the backing of Donald Trump. Vance praised the former president during his victory rally Tuesday night.
J.D. Vance: “Thanks to the president for everything, for endorsing me. And I’ve got to say, a lot of the fake news media out there — and there are some good ones in the back there; there are some bad ones, too, let’s be honest — but they wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of Donald Trump’s 'America First' agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, it ain’t the death of the 'America First' agenda.”
J.D. Vance is a venture capitalist and author of the best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy.” He was heavily backed by the right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Politico reports Thiel spent more than $15 million to back Vance, who will face Democratic Congressmember Tim Ryan in November’s election to fill the seat currently held by Republican Senator Rob Portman.
In another closely watched race, Democratic Congressmember Shontel Brown has defeated challenger Nina Turner, the former co-chair of Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign. It was a rematch of last year’s special election that brought Brown to Congress. We will have more on the Ohio election later in the program.