ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Reaction is spreading quickly among Republican voters in metro Detroit hours after JD Vance was announced as Donald Trump's running mate on day one of the Republican National Convention.
“I love him. I think it’s a great idea,” Karen Beckman of Rochester Hills said. "I think he’ll appeal to more people and I'm hopeful we can be more cohesive as a country and come together, and I think JD Vance will help us do that.”
“I think it’s an excellent pick,” Armand Coallier of Rochester Hills said.
“I thought it was a clever choice,” Karl Kerstein of Auburn Hills said.
“I like the pick also because he’s young. We need a young vice president," Zaid Arabo of Bloomfield Hills said. "I feel like a lot of our politicians are getting a little older.”
The 39-year-old senator from Ohio is the first millennial to be on the presidential ticket for a major political party in the U.S.
Related: Who is J.D. Vance, Trump's pick for vice president?
“It's a very logical pick in some ways,” said Jeffrey Bernstein, a professor of political science at Eastern Michigan University. "In some ways, Vance balances the ticket around age and geography. And in other ways, particularly in terms of ideology, it’s really enforcing who Donald Trump is.”
But Bernstein still expects the pick to have a minimal impact on the outcome.
“Not a lot of people are undecided when it comes to a Trump-Biden election, so it's unlikely that a vice presidential candidate will have a tremendous impact on the vote,” Bernstein said.
“He can pretty much pick anyone because Trump is a winner. We love Trump,” Arabo said.
While that’s true for some voters, it’s not for all.
“Yeah, independent, undecided,” Lisa Erkstrom from Rochester said.
Erkstrom said she's looking closely at vice president candidates as well and will weigh that when considering her vote.
”I don't know much about him (Vance), but I feel like it's time to do a little research,” Erkstrom said. "They all bring something different and it's important to know all of of your options.”
So while it’s unclear if Vance could have any impact on the outcome in Michigan, experts say picking a candidate with Midwest roots is a good choice.
“If there is any spillover effect into Michigan and Pennsylvania, which of course border Ohio, then I think that's an added bonus of this pick,” Bernstein said. "If JD Vance kicks up the Republican turnout and Republican performance by half a point, that could make the difference.”
Democrats from Michigan and across the country have been quick to criticize the selection.
“Trump has only ever surrounded himself with extremists who agree with his far-right agenda, and J.D. Vance is certainly no different,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a statement. "As the junior senator from Ohio, Vance has shown that he doesn’t care about anything other than pushing rhetoric and policies to take full control of our bodies, economy, and democracy. At the end of the day, Trump choosing Vance as his running mate underscores how important it is that we reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”
“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and with Donald Trump’s decision today to add J.D. Vance to the Republican ticket, the stakes of this election just got even higher," said Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison in a statement. "J.D. Vance embodies MAGA – with an out-of-touch extreme agenda and plans to help Trump force his Project 2025 agenda on the American people. Vance has championed and enabled Trump’s worst policies for years – from a national abortion ban, to whitewashing January 6, to railing against Social Security and Medicare. Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future. There is so much on the line, and it’s more important than ever that we reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this November.”
