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Democrats are sharpening their criticism of Vice President JD Vance even as President Donald Trump remains their top opponent, with party leaders and strategists increasingly treating Vance as a likely Republican nominee for 2028. In Ohio, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear traveled to Vance’s home county and criticized the memoir that helped make Vance a political household name, using the moment to argue that Democrats should start defining his image now rather than waiting until a later campaign season.
At a Democratic fundraiser in Butler County, Beshear said Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy” “trafficked in tired stereotypes,” and he added that “His book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ was really hillbilly hate,” according to the Associated Press report. The episode drew a chorus of boos when Vance’s name was mentioned, as attendees responded to what Beshear framed as a portrayal that did not reflect the communities Vance wrote about.
Beshear also tied the criticism to broader political strategy, saying “It is poverty tourism, because he ain’t from Appalachia.” The AP report described the broadside as both a signal of Beshear’s own potential presidential aspirations and part of the wider effort to undercut Vance’s appeal as the Republican heir apparent to the coalition that twice elected Trump to the White House.
Democratic strategist Lis Smith, who led Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign and continued to work with the former Biden administration transportation secretary, said the attacks function as preparation for a future contest. “With every day that passes, we get closer to a day when Donald Trump is no longer president. And we need to prepare for that day,” Smith said, adding, “Right now, JD Vance is a clear front-runner for the 2028 nomination. And so we should begin defining him — not in 2027, not in 2028 — but today.”
Vance’s camp dismissed the criticism. In response to Beshear’s remarks, spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk brushed off the broadside as coming from a flawed messenger, saying, “Every time Andy Beshear attacks the vice president to try to get himself publicity, he ends up humiliating himself in the process, but maybe that’s something he’s into?”
The Vance-focused messaging is not new inside the Democratic Party, the AP report said, describing a shift that began as early as last year among some contenders. U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California was among the first Democrats to focus on Vance, after visiting the City Club of Cleveland and Yale University, where he and Vance studied law, and giving speeches that sought to cast Vance as more extreme than Trump.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another potential 2028 contender, singled out Vance in November while arguing that the Trump administration did not care about working people. Shapiro said at the time, “At least with Donald Trump, he’s transparent about that,” and added, “JD Vance is a total phony,” in the AP report.
Other Democrats have tried to build contrast campaigns around Vance’s profile as well. The AP report said California Gov. Gavin Newsom has leaned on aggressive tactics aimed at Republicans, including coining the nickname “JD ‘Just Dance’ Vance” on social media and mocking Vance’s appearance by saying he “grew a beard and lost his spine.”
Smith described the approach as an audition for a debate-stage confrontation with Vance. “There’s definitely value in taking on Vance to show Democrats, hey, this could be me on the debate stage against him,” Smith said, adding that Democrats benefit from the exercise even before they face him in an official campaign matchup.
The strategic focus on Vance rests partly on his biography and public story, the AP report said. Vance was born and raised in Butler County’s Middletown and rose to prominence after the publication of “Hillbilly Elegy” in 2016, which helped him cultivate a reputation for understanding working-class and rural white voters who supported Trump. That background carried into his political trajectory, the report said, including his 2022 Senate election and later role as vice president.
The AP report also placed the Vance strategy in a broader pattern of how vice presidents can attract early opposition. Republicans went after former Vice President Kamala Harris early in her tenure under President Joe Biden, Jamal Simmons, Harris’ communications director in 2022 and 2023, told the outlet. Simmons said, “The party is built to defend the president more than it is the vice president,” and added, “The vice president’s kind of out there on their own, to defend themself, and find friends where they can.”
Democrats, meanwhile, argued that Beshear’s effectiveness in conservative-leaning areas could matter in the battle over future support. The AP report said Beshear positioned himself as a rare Democrat able to lead a red state and said Democrats could win back voters by focusing on Americans’ basic needs. “We’ve gotta start talking to people and not at them,” he said, describing how he won counties in eastern Kentucky that typically voted Republican.
Beshear also pointed to how “That’s how I won counties in eastern Kentucky that normally vote for Republicans by large margins — including Breathitt County,” the report said, adding, “That’s the county JD Vance pretends to be from. Donald Trump won it by 59 points. I won it by 22 points the year earlier.” Several attendees praised the message after his remarks, including Theresa Vacheresse, a retired physician and business owner, who said she believed Democrats could win when Trump is gone, and Mark Kaplan of Butler County, who said, “I think he’s first-rate,” describing Beshear’s “compassion, empathy, charisma and intellect” and saying he also seemed “down-to-earth.”
In the end, the AP report portrayed Democrats’ growing Vance focus as a blend of opportunity and preparation—aimed at shaping a definition of a likely future nominee while still managing the party’s immediate fight against Trump.