Ohio Senator JD Vance, Republican vice presidential nominee, pushed back against attacks on his origin story from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who is rumored to be on Vice President Kamala Harris‘ shortlist of possible running mates.
Beshear, a Democrat, appeared on MSNBC‘s Morning Joe a day after Harris announced her bid for president. The Kentuckian gave his endorsement to the vice president, adding that he wants “the American people to know what a Kentuckian is and what they look like. Because let me just tell you that JD Vance ain’t from here.”
Vance—who was born in Middletown, Ohio, but has family roots from eastern Kentucky—hit back at Beshear, a scion of a Kentucky political family and son of a former governor.
“Eastern Kentucky will always have a special place in my heart,” Vance said, per a report from Politico’s Meridith McGraw Monday. “It’s very weird to have a guy whose first job was at his dad’s law firm and inherited the governorship from his father criticize my origin story.”
Beshear then doubled down on his comments while speaking with CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins later that evening, saying again of the senator, “He ain’t from here.”
“He is not from Kentucky. So this is a guy who would come maybe in the summers for some period of time, or to weddings or funerals. And then he claims to be from eastern Kentucky, tries to write a book about it to profit off our people, and then he calls us lazy,” Beshear said, referring to Vance’s bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which has received criticism for pushing stereotypes about the region of Appalachia.
Beshear has said it is “flattering” to be included in speculation about Harris’ vice presidential pick. As of Monday night, the governor told CNN, he has not been “personally asked” to submit any information for “vetting purposes” to the vice president’s campaign.
Other Democrats whispered to be on Harris’ shortlist for vice president include Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. As a former California senator and attorney general with roots in San Francisco, Harris will likely look for a running mate that will help her regain momentum in swing states, which in recent weeks have started to turn in former President Donald Trump’s favor.
Beshear was first elected as Kentucky governor in 2019, just three years after Trump won the state by nearly 30 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election. Beshear was reelected in 2023 and Trump captured the state by roughly 25 points three years prior in the 2020 presidential election.
Update 07/22/24, 10:54 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.
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