President Trump has acknowledged Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possible Republican presidential nominees for 2028. But last summer, he said Vance would "most likely" take over from him as the leader of the MAGA movement, per the New York Times. Democrats, especially the ones who could be in the running for their party's nomination, are beginning to take that to heart, focusing their attacks on Vance. The latest example was Saturday night, the AP reports, when Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear appeared in Vance's home county in Ohio and said the vice president had abandoned the communities that he wrote about in the memoir that made him famous.
The account of Vance's hardscrabble upbringing "trafficked in tired stereotypes," Beshear said at a Democratic fundraiser in Butler County. "His book Hillbilly Elegy was really hillbilly hate. It is poverty tourism, because he ain't from Appalachia." The broadside reflects Vance's status as the heir apparent to the coalition that twice elected Trump. Democrats need to prepare for the day after Trump's presidency, said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist. "Right now, JD Vance is a clear front-runner for the 2028 nomination. And so we should begin defining him—not in 2027, not in 2028—but today." Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk brushed off the governor's criticism. "Every time Andy Beshear attacks the vice president to try to get himself publicity, he ends up humiliating himself in the process, but maybe that's something he's into?" she said.
Rep. Ro Khanna was among the first Democrats to begin focusing on Vance, per the AP. Khanna stopped at the City Club of Cleveland and Yale University, where he and Vance studied law, and gave speeches that attempted to cast Vance as more extreme than Trump. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro singled out Vance in November while making the argument that the Trump administration does not care about working people. "At least with Donald Trump, he's transparent about that," Shapiro said. "JD Vance is a total phony." Some Democrats have coalesced around California Gov. Gavin Newsom because of his aggressive strategy against Republicans. He coined the nickname "JD 'Just Dance' Vance" on social media, and he has mocked the vice president's appearance, saying Vance "grew a beard and lost his spine."
Smith said every line of criticism of Vance is an audition. "There's definitely value in taking on Vance to show Democrats, hey, this could be me on the debate stage against him," she said. At Saturday's Democratic fundraiser, the mere mention of Vance's name drew a chorus of boos. "I don't think he's got the magic that everybody looks at with Trump," said Theresa Vacheresse, a retired physician and business owner. "I think when Trump is gone, the Democrats might have a chance." Jamal Simmons, who was Kamala Harris' communications director in 2022, said vice presidents can be vulnerable. "The party is built to defend the president more than it is the vice president," he said. "The vice president's kind of out there on their own, to defend themself, and find friends where they can."
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