Vance to Back Trump in 2024 Presidential Campaign

U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance speaks with prospective voters on the campaign trail in Troy, Ohio, on April 11, 2022. Gaelen Morse/Getty Images

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) will support Donald Trump in the Republican presidential race in 2024, he said on Jan 31. in a radio interview.

Vance told Hugh Hewitt on his radio show, “the simple fact is Donald Trump’s policies were incredibly good for this country and he’s very popular among Republican voters.”

“In Ohio Republican circles, I’d say well over half the people in our party want Trump to run and will vote for him in the primary if he does. You know, look, I’m planning to support the [former] president in ’24,” Vance said. “I’m actually going to have an article come out here in the next couple of days that explains why.”

Vance, a former venture capitalist and best-selling author, was considered a rising conservative star after receiving Trump’s endorsement and winning a tough fight to replace retired Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

The Ohio politician has now returned the favor just months after Trump formally announced his 2024 presidential run in November of 2022. Thus far Trump is the only Republican who has announced their candidacy for the next presidential cycle.

Vance told Hewitt that Trump “deserves a chance to govern again” and said he believes “Republican voters, a lot of them, are on his side.”

The first-term senator from Ohio isn’t the only Republican to throw their political weight behind the former president. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently declared his support for the 45th president at a Trump event in South Carolina.

Graham later told Fox News’s Sean Hannity, “I’m for Donald Trump because I know what I’m going to get. We need somebody that on day one can get this country back on track. That can secure our border and bring order out of chaos. Somebody that the Russians and the Chinese fear. Somebody that can take the fight to the terrorists.”

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has also supported Trump, saying in an interview with Politico, “He’s been somebody that’s gotten the support of Missourians by big margins a couple times. He has my support.”

Not all Republicans are supporting Trump, however. According to NBC News, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said during a recent interview that “we just want the best normal candidate ... I’m not pro-Trump. I’m not anti-Trump. I’m just moving on.”