Vice President JD Vance swung through Greater Cincinnati Wednesday to rally support for Republican candidates running in the midterm elections.
Hundreds turned out for the rally at the Sharonville Convention Center, which also featured U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and candidate for Ohio's First Congressional District Eric Conroy, among others.
Vance talked up the GOP candidates and lit into their Democratic opponents, painting them as "far-left radicals" to big cheers from the crowd.
"All I'm asking is for you to think about who is going to fight for you, and who is going to bend the knee to the far-left crazy people," Vance said. "What you need is people of courage, people of decency and people of common sense."
Vance touted Trump's aggressive immigration policies, tariffs, legislation banning foreign companies from buying houses in the U.S. and moves to boost U.S. manufacturing.
The campaign stop comes as Republicans battle to maintain control of both the U.S. House and Senate against headwinds presented by low polling for President Donald Trump. One of the key fights in that struggle is the race between Husted, a Republican appointed to fill Ohio's Senate seat Vance vacated when he became vice president, and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.
The candidates gave brief remarks criticizing Democrats on immigration, inflation and other issues. Mostly, though, their speeches were aimed at pushing the crowd to get out to the ballot box.
"At this point in the campaign with less than two weeks left, it's a battle of wills," Husted said. "It's like the fourth quarter of a football game ... they want to drain your will to fight."
The rally also comes in the final days of a pitched campaign for governor of Ohio in which Ramaswamy and his Democratic opponent former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton poll neck-and-neck.
Ramaswamy didn't dwell on his opponent in his speech, even as an ad by his campaign featuring Acton's estranged mother has drawn controversy this week. Instead, he promised large tax cuts for Ohioans should he be elected and played up his local roots. The entrepreneur grew up in Evendale and went to Princeton Schools, which sit near the convention center.
Vance, however, did attack Acton, lighting into her pandemic response, and defended Ramaswamy's ad, saying it "told it like it is."
"I think that a person that is more worried about whether someone says something mean about them ... that person could never serve in the governor's mansion," Vance said.
A heckler briefly interrupted Vance's remarks, yelling something inaudible and throwing down a red "Make America Great Again" hat before security grabbed him and led him out.
A few protesters gathered outside the event. One, Ed Knapp, said he thought the rally showed Republicans are worried about losing control of the House and Senate.
"Usually Ohio is pretty good for Republicans lately," he said. "But I think they're a little bit desperate because Trump's polls are so low that they need to drum up some support."
Democrats are also calling in some big names to help campaign ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Former President Barack Obama will join Brown and Acton in Cleveland Oct. 24 for a get out the vote rally.
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