Vice President JD Vance’s new memoir about finding faith could help cement his early 2028 status as a GOP front-runner among religious voters.
Vance’s book differs from the conventional political memoirs being pushed by other potential 2028 hopefuls, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Titled Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, the book details Vance’s personal conversion to Catholicism.
“As vice president, JD Vance is largely defined by who he serves under, as any vice president is,” said Christopher Devine, an expert on vice presidential candidates at the University of Dayton. “And so I think there is some good reason, especially if he has future political ambitions, and he likely does, to want to create his own narrative about himself, who he is as an individual, and not just as subordinate to the president.”
Vance’s book is likely to play well with religious conservatives, a key constituency in Trump’s base, whom Vance will need to prevail in a GOP presidential primary.
Shoring up support with these religious voters could even boost Vance against other 2028 hopefuls with a strong faith background, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Recent polling has shown that Trump’s support among the base has slightly decreased in recent months. A March Fox News poll found 48% of Catholics approve of Trump’s second term, while 52% disapprove. Similarly, 47% of Protestants approved of Trump’s presidency while 53% disapproved.
Some religious conservatives have also expressed frustrations that the Trump administration is not doing enough to restrict abortion in the years after Roe v. Wade was struck down.
That dynamic could give Vance room to build support with religious voters while carefully distinguishing himself from Trump.
“I have no doubt that JD Vance is totally sincere, and I think it’s a great thing that he’s going to tout his faith,” said Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, which has hosted several GOP cattle call events in the past. “Of course, it’s not the only thing in the political arena, but if somebody has a moral, spiritual foundation under them, to me, that says a lot about the decision that they will make down the road.”
Vance could still face pushback from evangelical Christians in Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation caucuses, upset that the Trump administration has not limited access to the abortion pill Mifepristone and is not yet enforcing the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits the shipping of abortion-related drugs through the mail.
Also complicating Vance’s political future is the “awkward dance” of trying to distance himself from any unpopular policies of the Trump administration, said Devine.
“A vice president, while angling for leadership in his own right, has to avoid challenging the leadership of the current president that they serve under; that is incredibly difficult,” he added. “And to the extent we have a track record (over) the last 70 years from Nixon on, rarely has it gone well.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence split with Trump after their 2020 presidential loss and saw his 2024 presidential campaign fall short, despite his hardcore conservative bona fides.
Scheffler cautioned that evangelicals may pick the next GOP nominee based on electability and not just over specific policy issues, citing Trump’s rise over the past decade.
“Trump is a perfect example that people don’t have to— including religious conservatives— have to agree with everything that comes out of a politician’s mouth,” he said. “But they want to be convinced that if that person is elected, that they’re going to go to bat for things like religious liberty.”
A Republican, who was close to the vice president when he was an Ohio senator, told the Washington Examiner that the timing of Vance’s book and the second lady’s podcast was purely coincidental.
“There is more happenstance with the announcements than there was strategic thinking around the dates,” they said.
The vice president has been working on the book since at least 2019, after the hit success of his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, catapulted him to national prominence.
“He has been writing this book for a very long time,” they added. “It’s a book that he finished, and he thinks it’s a message that is worthwhile to the country to listen to.”
A spokesman with the vice president’s office directed questions from the Washington Examiner about Vance’s book to his publisher.
Boston University presidential historian Thomas Whalen claimed Vance’s book is likely part of a strategic effort to court religious conservatives, particularly Catholics.
“There are no coincidences in politics, particularly presidential politics,” said Whalen. “You need the evangelicals, obviously, but Catholic voters have played a prominent role in several election cycles, determining who the winner will be, and so he is working hard to let everyone know that he is a Catholic.”
Awkwardly hanging over Vance’s book is Pope Leo XIV’s public rebuke of the Trump administration. During a Palm Sunday mass, Pope Leo warned that God ignores the prayers of those who wage war and have “hands full of blood,” which many took as an attack against the Iran war.
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”
If Rubio, another Catholic, decides to run, he has a “huge Latino community of Catholics that he could draw upon,” said Whalen. “But the problem for Rubio is he’s kind of sidled with the foreign policy that he’s now carrying out for President Trump.”
VANCE AND REPUBLICANS EYEING 2028 RUN IN A TOUGH SPOT ON TARIFFS
Vance has also faced some criticism that Usha Vance is not a Christian. She is a practicing Hindu, which may come up in a primary if things turn negative. The 2028 cycle will not feature any incumbent president on the Democratic or Republican side and will likely see a large number of lawmakers running for the White House.
“We’re gonna see, at least in the Republican Party, it’s going to be a battle of faith in many regards. And it’s going to get ugly,” warned Whalen. “All the candidates are kind of touting their particular view of Christianity, which seems to be: the Prince of Peace has basically turned into Rambo if you’re Republican.”
