In fact, a few months into his Senate run, in February 2022, surveys of the GOP primary showed Vance polling in the single digits, trailing both businessman Mike Gibbons and Joshua Mandel, a onetime moderate who’d become an early imitator of Trump’s provocative style. It looked grim.

Eight years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, JD Vance was a bitter critic of Donald Trump. Publicly, he called the Republican businessman an "idiot" and said he was "reprehensible.

Although he was born in Middletown, Ohio, growing up, he spent summers in Jackson living with his grandparents. And many locals claim him as one of their own.