They were talking about former President Donald Trump announcing last week at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee that JD Vance, a freshman U.S. senator with Middletown roots, was his vice president running mate.
Suddenly, Middletown found itself in a media storm.
National reporters probably had to check if Vance was born in Middletown, N.Y., Middletown, N.J., Middletown, Ky., or the one in Ohio.
Or was he from Middletown or Middleton?
Here’s one thing for certain: Middletown, O-H-I-O is used to the bright lights.
Consider Middletown, a Butler County city with just over 51,000 residents, has produced a Pulitzer Prize winner (Clarence Page), two-term governor (James M. Cox), NBA Hall of Famer (Jerry Lucas), NFL Hall of Famer (Cris Carter), two Olympic gold medalists (Kayla Harrison and Lucas), World Series champion (Kyle Schwarber), Secretary of Commerce (C. William “Bill” Verity), and 1978 Miss America (Susan Perkins).
And if Trump wins the presidential race in November, Vance, 39 and half Trump’s age, will be Ohio’s first vice president.
Vance was born in Middletown in 1984 as James Donald Bowman, the son of Donald Bowman and Bev Vance. After his parents divorced, he was adopted by his mother’s third husband.
Throughout his years in Middletown, Vance went by James Hamel, his stepfather’s surname, until changing to Vance in honor of his grandparents.
He has said his grandmother, whom he called “Mamaw,” was his biggest influence because his mother battled drug addiction.
“Her discipline kept me on a pretty good path myself,” Vance told me during a phone interview last year. “Some kids from a troubled family don’t have a guiding hand. She was a saving grace and kept me from the other chaos.”
He worked as a cashier at Dillman Foods on Central Avenue when he was 16, graduated from Middletown High School in 2003, served in the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War, graduated from Ohio State University, and received his law degree from Yale Law School.
Hometown boy made good.
Despite these accomplishments, Vance wasn’t a household name until 2016 when he published his best-selling book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” that tells of his upbringing in Middletown to parents who were from the Appalachians in eastern Kentucky.
The book later was turned into a movie and directed by Ron Howard. Many of the scenes were shot in Middletown.
The memoir and film adaptation directed by Ron Howard and starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams ― which received several Academy Award nominations — rose to No. 6 on Netflix’s Top 10 movies the day after Vance was selected as Trump’s VP.
In 2022, Vance announced he was running for the U.S. Senate during an raucous rally event at Phillips Tube Group Inc. in Middletown. He narrowly defeated Democratic congressman Tim Ryan for Ohio’s open seat created when U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, retired.
As a senior at Middletown, Vance was elected class vice president.
Now, 21 years after high school, Vance could be elected vice president again.
And don’t forget he’s from Middletown.
The one in Ohio.
Rick McCrabb is a columnist for the JournalNews
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