JD Vance: Best-selling author and Trump nominee wins Ohio primary

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JD Vance
Success for ex-US President: Best-selling author and Trump candidate wins Ohio primary

Trump’s man in Ohio, JD Vance (center) has made it and is running for Congress

© Drew Angerer/Getty Images / AFP

05/04/2022, 07:51

2 min reading time

JD Vance opposed Donald Trump, changed his mind and was now elected Republican candidate in Ohio with his support. This is a great success for the ex-president.

Former US President Donald Trump cemented his status as the kingmaker of his Republican Party with a primary victory for best-selling author JD Vance, who he endorsed. According to US media, Vance won an internal party primary for the Conservatives in the state of Ohio by a clear margin. The author of the film adaptation of the hit book “Hillbilly Elegy” will be running for the Republicans for a seat in the Senate in Washington in November’s midterm elections.

JD Vance with catch-up

The news channel CNN saw the 37-year-old at around 32 percent after counting almost all the votes. His toughest rival Josh Mandel came up with 24 percent.

Vance has long trailed Mandel, who has influential and well-funded supporters in the conservative camp, in polls. The tide turned when Trump expressed his support for him in the party’s internal election campaign in mid-April. Vance subsequently overtook Mandel in polls and has now won the primary.

The author and financial investor has been a declared opponent of Trump in the past. Before the 2016 presidential election, in which Trump surprisingly won, he even described the right-wing populist as an “idiot” whom he “never liked”. When Vance entered the Republican primary in his home state of Ohio last year, he distanced himself from his earlier statements and came out as a staunch Trump supporter with hard-right politics.

Symbolic success for Donald Trump

The outcome of the primary is an important symbolic success for Trump. Vance’s victory shows just how popular the ex-president remains with the conservative base – and how much weight his support for individual candidates carries. The 75-year-old therefore has great power over the Republicans, even if he is by no means undisputed in his own ranks.

Large parts of the Republican Party had distanced themselves from the then president after radical Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol in January 2021. In the weeks and months that followed, however, the president who had been voted out was able to reassert his control over the party. Trump has repeatedly raised a possible re-run in the 2024 presidential election.

sanctions against Russia

The oil embargo is coming. Which EU members are in favor and which are against


Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) spoke to journalists in Brussels about further planned sanctions against Russia. He assumes that the sixth package of sanctions will also include the exit from Russian oil. Germany had previously opposed an oil embargo. Business associations fear that an oil embargo would cause oil prices to rise further. According to the energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Claudia Kemfert, an oil embargo is feasible, but Germany must increasingly rely on other suppliers such as Norway. The Economics Minister now also sees it that way. The share of Russian oil in German oil consumption has fallen from 35 to 12 percent within a few weeks since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, according to the German government's progress report on energy security. Habeck signaled last week that he no longer had a problem with the embargo.

Germany

Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) spoke to journalists in Brussels about further planned sanctions against Russia. He assumes that the sixth package of sanctions will also include the exit from Russian oil. Germany had previously opposed an oil embargo. Business associations fear that an oil embargo would cause oil prices to rise further. According to the energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Claudia Kemfert, an oil embargo is feasible, but Germany must increasingly rely on other suppliers such as Norway. The Economics Minister now also sees it that way. The share of Russian oil in German oil consumption has fallen from 35 to 12 percent within a few weeks since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, according to the German government’s progress report on energy security. Habeck signaled last week that he no longer had a problem with the embargo.

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First, however, are the midterm congressional elections in November, in which the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate will be re-elected. Vance will then fight Democrat Tim Ryan for a vacant Senate seat.

Ryan won Tuesday’s Ohio presidential primary for President Joe Biden. The Democrats must fear losing their majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

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