Why Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance is trending on Twitter today

Middletown native J.D. Vance announced his bid for U.S. Senate during an event at Middletown Tube Works with over 400 people in attendance Thursday, July 1, 2021 in Middletown. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

Middletown native J.D. Vance announced his bid for U.S. Senate during an event at Middletown Tube Works with over 400 people in attendance Thursday, July 1, 2021 in Middletown. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

“Hillbilly Elegy” author and candidate for Ohio Senate JD Vance is a nationally trending topic on Twitter today. His name was in the Top 10 of trending topics early Wednesday morning but had fallen to No. 25 before 11 a.m.

Many of the tweets were from the left, criticizing the candidate for his comments on Newsmax television network on Tuesday when he discussed the Kyle Rittenhouse trial verdict. He said Rittenhouse, 17, “saw no one protecting the businesses, the people in his community” and he “made good decisions” when he chose to defend them.

Vance said people should see that Rittenhouse was raised by a single mother, and that folks have treated his “basic manly virtue” as “white supremacy.”

“It’s not just about Kyle Rittenhouse. It’s about, what kind of young men do we want to raise in our communities?” Vance asked. “What kind of virtue do we want our leaders to promote? Certainly not the people who are burning Kenosha, Wisconsin down. We want to promote the types of virtues that exist in Kyle Rittenhouse.”

Rittenhouse was acting as “a positive force” in the community, Vance said in the Newsmax discussion.

The teenager was recently on trial after fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during protests during the summer of 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was acquitted on all charges.

Vance, a Middletown native, officially entered a growing race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in July 2021 during an announcement at Middletown Tube Works.

During his speech preceding the announcement, the Middletown High School, Ohio State and Yale law school graduate discussed his views on big tech, abortion rights, the COVID-19 response, elections and the situation at the southern border. He also stressed that he wants to support working Americans.

“America isn’t working as well for a lot of people as it did for me,” he said.

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