Vice President JD Vance cast his ballot Tuesday morning at St. Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church in Cincinnati, making his picks in a slate of Ohio Republican primaries before flying to Iowa to campaign for a congressman fighting to keep his seat.
Vance brought his son Vivek along to the polling place. Video captured by Fox News showed the vice president holding his completed ballot, though he played coy with the press corps trailing him.
As The Hill reported, Vance joked with reporters on the scene:
"I have to hide it from the reporters, I don't want them to know who I voted for."
He didn't hide it for long. Later that morning, Vance posted his choices on X, revealing he had voted for Vivek Ramaswamy in the GOP gubernatorial primary, Jay Edwards for state treasurer, and Eric Conroy in the Republican primary for Ohio's First Congressional District.
"I hope you'll do the same, Ohio!"
His son, meanwhile, had his own election to settle. Vance told reporters that young Vivek "voted for the Easter Bunny over the Tooth Fairy", a "risky choice because he's got a loose tooth."
Vance's endorsement of Ramaswamy for governor aligns him with the heavy favorite in the GOP primary. Ramaswamy, if he secures the nomination as expected, will face presumptive Democratic nominee Amy Acton in November. The Ohio governor's mansion has been held by Republican Mike DeWine, who appointed Jon Husted to succeed Vance in the U.S. Senate after Vance took office as vice president last year.
Husted is now running in a special election to serve out the remainder of Vance's Senate term through January 2029. Vance offered a warm assessment of his successor, telling the Associated Press that Husted is "going to do a great job" and calling him "good for Ohio."
The First Congressional District race also carries weight. Vance backed Eric Conroy in the GOP primary. On the Democratic side, incumbent Rep. Greg Landsman and Damon Lynch IV are competing for their party's nomination. That seat sits in Vance's home turf of Cincinnati, the same city where he voted Tuesday.
Vance's political trajectory in Ohio has been a story in itself. When he won the Republican Senate primary in 2022, he defeated six other candidates in a crowded field. A late endorsement from President Trump was widely credited with boosting Vance's polling and propelling him to victory, despite his earlier criticism of Trump in 2016.
Trump acknowledged the past friction directly at the time. "Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades," Trump said in his endorsement. Vance returned the favor in his victory speech: "Ladies and gentleman, it's not the death of the America First agenda."
After voting, Vance headed straight to Des Moines, Iowa, where he planned to speak at a manufacturing facility while campaigning alongside Rep. Zach Nunn. The visit signals how seriously the White House and Republican leadership are treating Nunn's reelection fight in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.
The Cook Political Report rates the race a "Toss Up", a distinction it applies to just 16 House seats nationwide. Nunn's opponent is state Sen. Sarah Trone-Garriot, the presumptive Democratic nominee. With the House Republican majority already razor-thin, every competitive seat matters.
Vance's Iowa trip carries a second layer of significance. The Hawkeye State's caucuses will mark the first votes cast in the 2028 Republican presidential primary. A vice president showing up to work a swing district there sends a signal well beyond the midterm cycle.
The vice president's willingness to put himself on the campaign trail for down-ballot candidates reflects a broader pattern in Republican politics right now: the party's most prominent figures are investing early in races that will determine whether the GOP can hold its governing majority.
That effort extends to the Senate, where internal Republican divisions on key votes have tested party unity in recent months. Keeping the caucus together, and expanding it, requires the kind of retail politicking Vance was doing Tuesday.
The schedule tells you something about the pace the vice president is keeping. He opened the morning at a Cincinnati church, cast a ballot, bantered with reporters, posted his endorsements on social media, and was airborne for Iowa before lunch.
That kind of energy matters in a political environment where high-profile senators on both sides are breaking with their parties and voters are watching closely to see who actually shows up. Vance showed up, first for his own state's primaries, then for a colleague who needs the help.
Ohio's primaries will sort out the Republican and Democratic nominees for governor, state treasurer, and several congressional seats. The results will shape the political landscape heading into November, when Ramaswamy is expected to face Acton and Nunn will face Trone-Garriot in one of the most closely watched House races in the country.
Meanwhile, the sharp-elbowed fights inside Congress over spending and personnel show no signs of cooling. Vance's dual role, Ohio voter in the morning, party surrogate by afternoon, underscores how thin the margin for error has become for Republicans trying to govern and campaign at the same time.
The vice president didn't just vote Tuesday. He reminded his party that winning requires showing up, at the church, at the factory, and in the districts where the outcome is still in doubt.
