LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — During the second Ohio delegation breakfast in Lake Geneva on Tuesday, the Republican Party was ready to support its vice presidential candidate with white hats supplied by the J.D. Vance camp.
Delegates plan to wear them Wednesday night in solidarity when the Hillbilly Elegy author and second-year U.S. senator from Ohio addresses the convention.
Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken had been ready on the Republican National Convention floor, lipstick in hand, on Monday to etch the name Vance on a Trump placard shortly after the former president named his running mate.
“For a long time we were a swing state,” current party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told the delegation. “They tell me we're not anymore. That's good, but it’s also scary.”
“The fact of the matter is that we’re the state now that recognizes good conservative governance improves people’s lives,” he said. “So we're back in the mix on the presidential side with Senator Vance at the top of the ticket.”
The delegation meeting in Geneva Lake, Wis., was the first since Mr. Vance appeared next to former President Donald Trump during the closing moments of Day One of the convention in Milwaukee an hour to the north.
The rapid ascent of his political star, his selection as Trump's running mate coming less than two years from first being elected senator from Ohio, has already started conjecture about 2028.
“We know if Donald Trump is elected, he cannot run after this,” Gov. Mike DeWine told The Blade. “The vice president is [traditionally] picked for the first term and then stays for a second, so it’s an eight-year [wait]. That really compresses it.
“When you look at 2028, he has to be in a small group of people who will compete for the nomination,” he said. “It’s very, very quick.”
Mr. Trump’s first vice president and a target of Jan. 6, 2021, rioters at the U.S. Capitol, former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has refused to endorse his former boss. Mr. Vance is a former “never-Trumper,” highly critical of the candidate during his first campaign.
Now Mr. Vance is part of the ticket, and his memoir has skyrocketed to the top of Amazon's best sellers list as Americans take a closer look at him and his story.
“The fact of the matter is J.D. Vance is exactly what Ohio is ...,” state Auditor Keith Faber told the delegates. “If you do things that empower people to make decisions and give them the ability to pursue their God-given potential — education and opportunities, the state can triumph and succeed.”
In addition to leading to an upgrade in convention floor seating for the Ohio delegation, having an Ohioan a short distance from the Oval Office will be helpful, Mr. DeWine said.
“It's always good to be able to pick up the phone and call the vice president,” he said. The governor would appoint Mr. Vance's replacement if he is elected vice president, ensuring the seat stays in Republican hands.
Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, challenging Democratic three-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, gets a prime-time speaking spot Tuesday. Mr. Vance will speak Wednesday, and Trump will formally accept the party's nomination on Thursday.
Before boarding shuttles to drive them an hour north to the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, the Ohio delegation took advantage of its close proximity to Lake Geneva. State Sen. Rob McColley (R., Napoleon), potentially the next Ohio Senate president, co-hosted a boat ride reception for the delegation.
While much of the focus these days is on presidential and congressional politics, Mr. McColley shifted to mobilizing the delegation in opposition to an expected vote on Nov. 5 to again overhaul redistricting.
Republicans currently hold 10 of 15 Ohio congressional seats and super-majorities of 26-7 and 67-32 in the state Senate and House, respectively.
He called the proposal an “impending threat,” saying that the effort will be fueled by the “powers that be in Washington D.C.” and “dark money groups from the left.”
“The only primary consideration is that the districts be drawn to achieve a final political outcome,” he said. “Doesn't that sound familiar? We've all heard the definition of gerrymandering...”
The assumption is that the Citizens Not Politicians coalition has filed more than enough signatures to appear on the ballot. It will ask voters to amend the Ohio Constitution to take the ability to redraw congressional and state legislative districts out of the hands of politicians and give it to 15-member citizens commission.
“This is a nonpartisan movement of Republicans, Democrats, and independents from every county in Ohio,” Chris Davey, spokesman for the petitioners, in response to Mr. McColley’s comments. “Politicians are the only ones who view it as an 'impending threat' because they love gerrymandering as it keeps them in power perpetually and allows them to grow old in office while ignoring the issues people really care about.”’
There were some boos on the convention floor on Monday when the convention adopted its 2024 policy platform. At least some of those boos were from those angered over a perceived weakening of the party's position opposing abortion after regulation was shifted to states.
But Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life and a voting delegate, says the federal government still has a role to play.
“The Dobbs decision dictates where we are legally in what we can do politically and policy-wise,” he said. “The states play a major role. Absolutely. Does the federal government still play a role? Absolutely.
“The best thing President Trump can do for us when he gets elected is appoint another Ben Carson to [the Department of Health and Human Services],” he said. That could pave the way to reversing what he characterized as “anti-life” policies under the Biden Administration.
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