US Vice President JD Vance has returned to his hometown to campaign for Republicans in November's crucial midterm elections — and test his own hopes of succeeding Donald Trump in 2028.
On Friday, Vance gave a speech at the steel plant where his grandfather worked for 40 years in Middletown, Ohio, the blue-collar town which featured in his bestselling 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."
The book recounted an impoverished upbringing in the neglected rust belt that spawned Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement, which Vance needs to woo if he runs for the White House in two years.
But Vance is also seeking to boost Republican candidates ahead of the midterms, amid fears that Trump's unpopularity could cause the party to lose control of Congress.
Trump's approval rating has fallen to 33 percent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week, the lowest of his current term.
Vance took a subtly centrist tone in his speech, evoking his blue-collar upbringing while avoiding much of the harsh rhetoric that has made Trump so divisive.
"I remember my papaw... coming to this very place to work for nearly 40 years as a welder," Vance said.
The isolationist vice president, who has privately opposed Trump's Iran war, said his grandfather had "very simple" expectations including that "America never be asked to be the policeman of the world."
Vance added that the Trump administration was "making progress" on issues including "the affordability question." Voters have voiced anger over rising prices, which his boss has dismissed as a hoax launched by rival Democrats.
But the 42-year-old also had harsh words for the opposition on subjects including immigration and so-called "woke" politics.
Heir to Trump's MAGA movement
Urging Republicans to vote in November, he said: "Get out there and fight for yourself by telling the far-left radicals who have taken over the Democratic Party: 'This is not your country. It's our country, and we're going to fight for it.'"
The race to succeed Trump in 2028 — assuming he does not try for a constitutionally barred third term — is set to begin in earnest after the midterms.
Vance has declined to formally confirm that he will run but has been clearly positioning himself as the heir to Trump's MAGA movement, albeit without the rough edges.
But many in the Republican party are also looking at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a contender.
Rubio has said he will not run if Vance does, but a poll by Emerson College and The Hill released this week found that Rubio outperformed Vance in all but one of five match-ups against leading Democratic contenders.
The Democrats meanwhile face their own struggles as they seek to rebuild from Trump's 2024 defeat of then-vice president Kamala Harris.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has scored a series of primary wins in recent months, even as centrists seek to distance themselves from socialist-style proposals like universal health care.
