Vice President JD Vance poured beers for locals at a Cincinnati chili restaurant on Friday during a hometown campaign swing built around a speech at the steel plant where his grandfather once worked.
Vance returned to the Cincinnati area to stump for Republicans ahead of the November midterms. The main event was at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works facility. He capped the day at a local chili spot, where the Associated Press reported he served beers and chili-topped dogs with cheese to the crowd.
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty posted video of the moment, writing that Vance was “PERSONALLY serving beers to the locals in Cincinnati, Ohio,” and describing the vice president as “rocking the Rust Belt.” One person in the restaurant shouted, “Nice pour, JD!”
Earlier Friday, Vance spoke at the plant known as Armco Steel when his grandfather, James Vance, worked there for nearly 40 years.
“Papaw was a welder in this place for 40 years, and today his grandson stands here as the vice president of these United States. It’s an amazing thing,” Vance said.
The vice president used the speech to cast the modern Democratic Party as unrecognizable to the one his grandfather backed for its union ties, calling it the “party of graduate students.” He said his grandfather “hated the people who forgot about this town when they should have been fighting for this town.”
Vance conceded voters are feeling the squeeze on prices. He said Trump was trying to reverse “40 years of American decline.” He did not say how. The vice president tied that effort to Trump’s immigration and trade policies, including tariffs, which he framed as a way to protect jobs like those at the plant. Energy Secretary Chris Wright came along for the trip.
Vance has long leaned on his Middletown roots, recounting his upbringing in a viral video released the night before his 2024 vice-presidential debate.
The visit comes as Ohio Republicans defend competitive statewide races. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), appointed to Vance’s old seat, faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown, while Vance ally Vivek Ramaswamy runs for governor against Democrat Amy Acton.
Democrats have increasingly targeted Vance as a likely 2028 contender. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) traveled to Middletown in March to blast Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy as “hillbilly hate.”
Vance’s office announced a Monday trip to Brewer, Maine, to campaign for former Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
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