'Clean up his mess': Trump team sends J.D. Vance on road with mission to restart campaign
J.D. Vance will attempt to reinvent himself Tuesday after a rocky rollout of his vice presidential candidacy, NBC News reports.
The Ohio senator is headed to a high school in Nevada as the first stop in a whistlestop tour of the west that's designed to put his less-than-perfect introduction to the voters of America behind him — and reassert himself as the Trump team’s “policy attack dog on Kamala Harris,” a Trump source told the outlet.
“For Vance, it’s a chance to quickly move beyond a debut that was engulfed by fresh scrutiny last week over his past provocative comments, including his thoughts on the societal value of women who do not have children — “childless cat ladies” in his words,” NBC reported.
The flubs from the first couple of weeks of Vance’s campaign — enhanced by resurfaced videos sharing his views on the value of childless women as well as other extreme opinions — had been seized upon by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to become president, which has used them as a way to paint Vance as “weird.”
Some Republicans have also voiced concern about Trump’s running mate.
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“Typically, after the convention, your vice presidential pick is crisscrossing the nation, introducing himself ... and trying to win over swing voters,” GOP strategist Matthew Bartlet told NBC News.
“Right now, J.D. Vance is trying to clean up his mess and win over the Republican Party. It’s a very odd dynamic.
“I think that’s the challenge right now — to reassure the Republican Party that he was the correct pick before he even attempts to try to expand the voting base.”
A source NBC described as close to the Trump campaign said Vance aimed to be seen in a new role.
“He’s the policy attack dog on Kamala Harris,” the source said. “That’s essentially the game plan for J.D. moving forward.”