JD Vance: 'Idea This Race Was Close' Was 'Bit of a Mirage' (Newsmax)
By Eric Mack | Sunday, 06 November 2022 02:26 PM EST
A confident GOP senatorial-nominee J.D. Vance is hailing his final-week midterm momentum as no real surprise, saying Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, never truly had a chance to earn the support of Ohio voters.
"The energy is higher as you get closer to Election Day, but I've always thought the idea this race was close was a bit of a mirage," Vance told the Washington Free Beacon on Saturday. "A lot of our base just wasn't really paying attention to politics. They were on vacation or hanging out with their kids."
Vance told the Beacon he "loves the polls," as RealClear Politics (RCP) polling average has Vance as a solid 5-point favorite going into Tuesday's final vote. RCP projects Vance will hold the seat of retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has endorsed him.
"We've hammered Ryan on the airwaves over his record," Vance told the Free Beacon. "So now when I talk to voters they're aware he's anti-energy, anti-cop."
Trump twice won Ohio by 8 points and the seat Vance is running for has been Republican since 1999.
Ohio is famously an election bellwether state, although Trump's 2020 victory came despite President Joe Biden's controversial victory.
"I was told all my life that 'so goes Ohio, so goes the nation,'" Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Saturday in stumping for Vance. "I know on Tuesday, you're going to be a bellwether again.
"There is one thing I think Biden actually got right, when the man can complete a sentence: He says this election is about the soul of America, he’s right about that," Hawley continued.
"What we're gonna tell him on Tuesday is we're not the problem; he's the problem."