Vice President JD Vance returned to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, this week, using the visit to court manufacturing workers and rally support for Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
Middletown holds an outsized place in Vance's public story. The small Ohio city, long shaped by its steel industry, was the setting for much of his bestselling memoir, which chronicled his upbringing amid economic decline and personal hardship before he went on to the Marine Corps, Yale Law School and eventually the Senate and vice presidency.
Appearing before workers at a local plant, Vance framed the administration's trade and manufacturing policies as an effort to bring jobs back to towns like the one that raised him, a message aides say is central to the party's midterm pitch in industrial swing districts across Ohio and neighboring states.
Democrats have argued that the economic gains touted by the administration have been uneven, and that many of the same communities Vance points to as success stories are still grappling with higher costs and shrinking populations. Local officials in Middletown have offered a mixed picture, welcoming any new investment while cautioning that a single high profile visit does not undo decades of industrial decline.
The visit adds to a busy midterm travel schedule for Vance, who has increasingly taken on a prominent campaigning role for the party as Republicans look to defend their congressional majorities.