SOUTHWEST, Va. – All eyes are on Southwest Virginia ahead of Ohio Senator - and Republican Vice Presidential pick - JD Vance’s visit to Radford University on Monday.
Political Analyst Dr. Ed Lynch says Republicans are hoping to flip the Commonwealth red.
“Virginia is in play for the first time in several election cycles,” said Lynch
Lynch says Trump choosing Vance as his running mate is a calculated move.
“Donald Trump clearly wanted to appeal to younger voters,” said Lynch. “He wanted to have a contrast, I think, between the Republican ticket and the Democratic ticket.”
Vance is the first millennial to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate. He grew up in a working-class family in Ohio.
“If you watch Vance’s acceptance speech, somehow Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania kept coming up in a way that, say, Nevada and Colorado and Texas did not come up,” said Lynch. “They’re going for the working class vote.”
Trump and the Republican Party aren’t strangers to Southwest Virginia. Trump visited Liberty University in 2012, 2016 and 2019. He went to Radford University in 2016 and visited Roanoke twice that same year.
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Liberty University and Washington & Lee University. Donald Trump Jr. and Governor Glenn Youngkin appeared at Washington & Lee’s Mock Convention earlier this year.
“If the Trump campaign has any realistic hope of getting Virginia, they have to have a huge vote here in Southwest Virginia. In the 9th congressional district, the 6th congressional district and the 5th. And You really almost need all three of them just to outweigh Fairfax County in Northern Virginia which is heavily democratic.”
The last time Virginia elected a Republican to the White House was former President George W. Bush back in 2004. Lynch says Southwest Virginia will be homebase for Republicans in what is now a battleground state.
“The Republican vote in Virginia is in Southwest Virginia.”