Two of the House’s most controversial Republicans are hitting the campaign trail for author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance ahead of Ohio’s GOP Senate primary next week.
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) are slated to attend a series of town halls with Vance on Saturday, his campaign announced. Both will appear at events in Newark and West Chester, Ohio, with Gaetz making an additional stop with Vance in East Canton.
The joint appearances come roughly two weeks after former President Trump endorsed Vance in the Ohio Republican Senate primary and amount to a last-minute push before voters head to the polls next week.
“For too long, conservative voices have been silenced and weaponized by the mainstream media and liberal elites,” Gaetz said in a statement. “JD Vance is the only candidate not afraid to stand up against the establishment and make the voices of every day, working class Ohioans heard in Washington. I look forward to joining JD in Ohio and helping to bring him to victory in this race.”
Vance faces six opponents in the May 3 primary for the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), including former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, businessman Mike Gibbons and former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken, all of whom aggressively sought Trump’s support prior to his endorsement of Vance.
The race is still fluid. But after running in third place in the polls for months, Vance has seen a bump in recent weeks with one survey from the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group this month showing him running in second behind Mandel. A Fox News poll out this week found him leading the pack by a 5-point margin.
The decision to bring in two of Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress in the final days before the primary suggests that Vance is looking to double down on the former president’s endorsement in a last-minute effort to turn out Trump’s ultraconservative voter base.
“JD is a true America First Patriot who puts people over politicians and believes in taking action rather than just talking a big game on television,” Greene said in a statement. “I proudly announced my support for JD and campaigned with him at the start of the year and look forward to joining him on the trail once again as the only President Trump-endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio.”