Trump Keeps Limelight on JD Vance at Election Day Eve Save America Rally in Dayton

But former president hints at of 'very big announcement' on Nov. 15

Former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Republican U.S. Senate candidate, J.D. Vance on stage during a campaign rally, on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections, in Vandalia, Ohio, on Nov. 7, 2022. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

DAYTON, Ohio—Speculation was rampant that Donald Trump would announce his intent to run for president again in 2024 during the Save America rally on Election Day Eve in suburban Dayton.

Instead of formally declaring his candidacy, the former president told an enthusiastic crowd, “Not to detract from tomorrow’s very important, even critical, election … I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.”

The statement elicited loud cheers.

“We want nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow, you understand that J.D.?” Trump added while looking at Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

A boisterous crowd gave J.D. Vance a loud ovation during the Save America rally in suburban Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 7, 2022. Jeff Louderback/Epoch Times

Trump traveled to the Dayton International Airport on Nov. 7 for his fourth rally in five days. The event, which took place outside Wright Brothers Aero Inc., was held to bolster Vance and other Trump-endorsed candidates.

Vance is a venture capitalist and author of The New York Times best-seller “Hillbilly Elegy” who is opposed by Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and vying to replace retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

For several months, the race was tightly contested, but Vance gained momentum after the two October debates with Ryan.

As of Nov. 5, the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Vance with a 7.5-point lead.

The most recent poll, conducted by The Trafalgar Group and released on Nov. 5, indicated that Vance has coasted to a 10-point advantage over Ryan, who is in his 10th term as a congressman in the Youngstown, Ohio area.

Early in his speech, Trump referenced Vance’s surge in the polls and jokes, “Why am I even here?”

Catapulted by an endorsement from Trump, Vance prevailed in a contentious Republican primary in early May that featured seven candidates.

Consistently criticized by his opponents for comments he made about Trump in 2016, Vance on April 15 received the stamp of approval they all sought—an endorsement from the former president for the GOP primary.

“He didn’t use to like me too much, but he likes me now, and I like him,” Trump said about Vance on Election Day Eve. “He gets it. He’s smart. J.D. will fight for Ohio.”

Trump said that “J.D. will never be owned by the establishment. He won’t be owned by me either. I’d love to own the guy, but I don’t think he’ll be there for me. But that’s okay. You know what? I’m doing the right thing for the country. He’s a very independent guy.

“When JD wins tomorrow night, you are going to hear the wailing and shrieking of the fake news all the way from New York to Washington because the media will know that Ohio just elected a truly MAGA all-star,” Trump added.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, on Nov. 7, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Menu of Speakers

The rally featured a menu of speakers that included current Republican U.S. House members like Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ohio’s Jim Jordan, Warren Davidson, Mike Turner, and Mike Carey. Ohio U.S. House candidates J.R. Majewski and Max Miller also took the stage.

Greene’s presence was noteworthy because she is seeking re-election to Georgia’s 14^th Congressional District against Democrat Marcus Flowers. Greene decisively won the GOP primary and is projected to handily defeat Flowers on Nov. 8.

Jordan, who is expected to hold a prominent spot in the House if Republicans regain control of the chamber as projected, said that the path to restoring freedom starts on the Nov. 8 Election Day.

“The left controls big media, the left controls big tech, the left controls big corporations. The left now controls big sports, the left controls Hollywood, the left controls higher education. The left controls the White House, the left controls the Senate, the left controls the House, the left controls the federal bureaucracy, but the left doesn’t control ‘we the people.’ And tomorrow, and tomorrow we the people are going to speak loud and clear,” Jordan said to rousing applause.

Ryan for ‘Joe Biden Agenda’

Ryan decisively won the Democrat primary and immediately peppered the airwaves with ads that portrayed him as a moderate who appeals to Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Congressional voting records tell a different story, as Ryan has voted with President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time.

Some Ohio-based and national Republican organizations expressed concern about the race over the summer when Ryan was highly visible with his advertising and public appearances while Vance took a more measured approach.

Ad spending from GOP-aligned groups, and Vance’s performances in the two debates, gradually shifted the race’s outlook.

Ryan last held a lead in a poll on Sept. 22 when Spectrum News/Siena College had the former Democrat presidential candidate with a 3-point edge.

“Tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, is a referendum on Joe Biden’s failed policies and the fact that Tim Ryan is a rubber stamp for the failed Joe Biden agenda for this country and for our state,” Vance said at the Dayton rally.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance speaks during a rally on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections, in Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 7, 2022. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

Trump told the crowd that Ryan “pretends to be a moderate and pretends to be almost a Trump supporter, but he has voted with Pelosi 100 percent of the time and he says he’s with me. He’s not with me.”

Around 45 minutes after Vance finished his address, Trump’s jet pulled up along the airstrip next to the stage outside the Wright Bros. Aero Inc. hangar.

For much of his speech, the former president offered hints that he plans to run for another term.

He pointed to polls that showed him ahead of Biden if the candidates run for president in 2024 and surveys that indicate he has a significant advantage over potential GOP primary challengers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Wyoming U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who is focused on making sure Trump is not elected to another term in the Oval Office.

Trump also said, “I ran twice, won twice, and did better the second time than the first,” adding that he had “more votes than any sitting president in the history of the country.”

“The first step to saving America is winning an epic victory for Republicans tomorrow,” Trump said.

At the end of his address, Trump declared that “Now we are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation. We are a nation that has the highest inflation in 50 years,” he said, railing against the stock market decline and America’s lack of energy independence.

“We are a nation that is begging Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and many others for oil. ‘Please, please, please help us,' Joe Biden says, when we have more liquid gold right under our feet than any other country anywhere in the world.

“We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed, where crime is out of control like it has never been before. We are a nation that has become a joke.

“We are a nation that is hostile to liberty, freedom, and faith. We are a nation whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool—whose supply chain is broken, whose stores are not stocked, whose deliveries are not coming.

“We are a nation where large packs of sadistic criminals and thieves are allowed to go into stores and openly rob them, beat up the workers and kill the customers, and leave with armloads of goods and no retribution.

“But,” Trump continued, “We are a nation that is not going to allow this horror to continue. Two years ago, we were a great nation, and we will be a great nation again.”