Vance, a Republican political newcomer, has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump – a fact that many political pundits credit as the reason he won the May 3 primary over several more seasoned candidates, including former state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R).
While a recent Trafalgar Group poll shows Vance leading Democrat Tim Ryan by five points, Real Clear Politics still considers the race a toss-up.
Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, recently met with Vance at a family policy leaders' summit and says he is convinced that Vance is a solid choice for conservatives.
"We asked JD Vance as a Senate candidate, 'What would you do with H.R. 8404,' or basically legislation that would codify homosexual marriage into law," Long relays. "He said emphatically no; he would not vote for that. Then he went on to explain it's a religious rights issue. He said, 'I'm extremely concerned about what it would mean to the Church and people of faith; I would absolutely not support that.'"
As for the abortion issue, the lobbyist for pro-life, pro-family legislation reports that "JD Vance is very pro-life."
"He says, 'I'm 100% pro-life. I'm going to campaign on that,'" Long tells AFN. "He [fully] supports Ohio's heartbeat law."
After serving as a Marine in the Iraq War, the Ohio native received his law degree from Yale Law School and became a successful investor in Silicon Valley. He wrote a bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was turned into a movie on Netflix.
He then became a commentator known for fiercely defending working-class Americans, as he shares on his campaign website that he has seen "too many lives devastated by job loss, addiction, and economic turmoil."
Vance moved back to Ohio in 2017 to start a Cincinnati-based business that focused on growing companies that creating well-paying jobs.
Now, as he seeks to serve Ohio in the U.S. Senate, Long says the self-described "conservative outsider" is the real deal when it comes Christian social issues.
