When Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) steps into one of the biggest VFW halls in Pennsylvania on Thursday, he won’t just be wooing members of the popular hang-out northeast of Pittsburgh where cornhole is one of the weekly featured events.
The Marine Corps veteran will be symbolically reaching out to other vets throughout the country in a bid to revive support for former President Donald Trump on Election Day.
“This is going to be the one thing that will probably put Donald Trump over the line,” said Jessie Jane Duff, executive director of Veterans and Military Families for Trump.
“Vance is a threat to the Democratic ticket,” added Duff, also a former Marine, who will be at VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell to introduce Vance and three elected vets, Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Brian Mast (R-FL), and Michael Waltz (R-FL).
Veterans voted for Trump in big numbers in 2016 but pulled back in 2020. With Pennsylvania considered the state key to electing either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, the veteran vote is critical.
She said that the state has the highest concentration of veterans in the nation. In 2020, when many thought Trump had his reelection in the bag, lots of veterans didn’t show up to vote. So Vance is campaigning to change that.
Duff said that Vance’s military record and youthfulness are attractive to veterans, especially the post-9/11 class. “J.D. Vance has just turned 40 years old, so you’re going to activate that 30- to 55-year-old base,” she told Secrets.
What’s more, his criticism of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s false statements about his military rank and experience is generating support for the Trump ticket and anger at the Harris ticket.
Walz, the Democratic running mate, has admitted to misstating his rank when he retired and his battlefield experience. While Vance has praised Walz’s service in the National Guard, he has hit the false statements.
The clash has led to an online campaign from battlefield veterans posting photos of themselves in war with the phrase “Not being Tim Walz.” Said Duff, “Veterans are furious.”
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Veterans were already open to backing Trump after the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal three years ago this month. Some 13 Americans died in a suicide attack that marked the most chaotic day of that blunder, and veterans have not forgotten.
Several memorials are planned, and a House GOP report on the disaster is expected to be released within a week.
