Pottawattamie County GOP leader reacts to Vance VP pick

Pottawattamie County Republican Party Chair, Starlyn Perdue is a delegate to the Republican National Convention. She's been in Milwaukee since last Wednesday because she's also serving on the convention's rules committee.

Perdue stepped off the convention floor and took a few moments to update KMTV on her reaction to Sen. JD Vance's nomination for vice president on Monday.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Starlyn Perdue, a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Pottawattamie County, found a quiet corner in the convention center to share her thoughts on the vice presidential nomination of Sen. J.D. Vance.

I’m your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.

Perdue and I spoke shortly after the news broke.

Katrina Markel: "What’s your reaction to the selection of Sen. Vance?"

Starlyn Perdue: “We have been excited to hear the announcement for months now ... it’s interesting to see somebody a little bit closer in age and just coming up the ranks through everything, getting involved at such a high level. It really shows what a qualified candidate he is ... having J.D. not have a lot of experience on the national stage is something people were bringing up, but I don’t have any concern about that whatsoever because he will be working alongside Donald J Trump who has a lot of experience on the national and international stage.”

Vance was elected to the Senate from Ohio in 2022. Before that, he was perhaps best known as the author of the memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The 39-year-old worked as a venture capitalist and, prior to running for office, was publicly and privately critical of then-President Trump.