JD Vance and Tim Walz Find Common Ground: Diet Mountain Dew

For a brief moment, it seemed that even Diet Mountain Dew was going to become a wedge issue in the cultural wars. Instead, it may become a unifier.

Both the Republican and the Democratic candidates for vice president, it turns out, are fans of the soft drink. And in a race where so much attention has focused on heartland voters, it makes sense that a regional favorite has entered the conversation.

The Mountain Dew Moment started two weeks ago when the Republican, Senator JD Vance, told an audience in Middletown, Ohio: “Democrats say that it is racist to believe — well, they say it’s racist to do anything. I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I’m sure they’re going to call that racist, too. It’s good.”

On CNN’s “The Source” later that day, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky responded, “What was weird was him joking about racism today and then talking about Diet Mountain Dew. Who drinks Diet Mountain Dew?”

It turns out a lot of people do, including many of Governor Beshear’s constituents. Kentucky has among the highest per capita consumption of Mountain Dew in the United States. Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, quickly walked back the comments and apologized.