JD Vance vows to fight for ‘forgotten communities’ in hometown rally

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio –– Ohio Sen. JD Vance said Monday he would fight for “forgotten communities all across our country” if elected as vice president, channeling his small town Ohio upbringing into a populist economic message.

“My life wasn't all that different from a lot of people who grew up in Middletown, Ohio,” he said. “It was tough, but it was surrounded by loving people, and it was surrounded by something that if we don't fight for is not going to be around for the next generation of kids, and that's opportunity.”

The first-term Senator was named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate last week at the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, a weeklong celebration for a party unified and remade in Trump’s image.

Vance’s speech combined biography – rattling off anecdotes from his time at Middletown High School – and philosophy, connecting things like American trade policies enacted in the 1990s to the decline in manufacturing jobs in the Midwest.

“We're going to fight for every single worker in this country,” he pledged. “If you work hard and play by the rules, you ought to be able to put a good dinner on the table and send your kids to whatever vacation and whatever school you want. To work hard and play by the rules, you get a good life. It's that simple.”

Hundreds of supporters packed the auditorium of Middletown High School and waited for hours outside to hear the hometown hero share his vision for America in his first solo rally since accepting the vice presidential nomination.

A one time vocal critic of Trump when he first ran for president in 2016, Vance has evolved over time to be one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, online, and now on the campaign trail.

“He is not the