J.D. Vance has become the latest candidate to gain Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement in a Republican primary this year.
Vance, who has been trailing in the crowded Ohio Senate race, joins well over 130 candidates Trump is betting on as a test of his continued influence in GOP politics. The author had previously been critical of the former president, but Trump concluded Vance “gets it now” in his endorsement announcement.
The former venture capitalist is now possibly the candidate with the most prominent business background whom Trump is asking voters to send to Washington for the first time.
He’s far from the only one.
Trump himself remains obsessed with maintaining control of the Republican Party and forcing any candidate to express fealty to him and to his false claims about the 2020 election.
Their business backgrounds run the gamut run from figure like Vance, who had a significant and apparently lucrative business careers, to others who have found their business record to be a stumbling block as they try to appeal to Republican primary voters.
