National
The biggest news thus far on the presidential campaign trail is that of former President Donald Trump’s (R-FL) announcement of author, venture capitalist, and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate.
The move comes after much speculation over a crowded field of nominees for vice president. Names included Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson (R-MI), Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R, NY-21), and Governor Doug Burgum (R-ND).
Trump’s pick in Vance is reportedly a method of preserving the party’s newfound legacy in the Trump era and allowing the former president to have a hand-picked successor should he win the election and become term-limited thereafter.
Vance, 39, was elected to the U.S. Senate in Ohio’s open seat in 2022, after two-term Senator Rob Portman (R) announced his retirement. Vance had not held elected office beforehand.
Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. He is a Marine Corps Veteran who served as a combat correspondent from 2003 to 2007, with six months in Iraq. After graduating from Ohio State University in 2009, he graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.
Vance earned national recognition for his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which became a New York Times bestseller and was later made into a film in 2020, directed by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. In his book, Vance describes the difficulty of growing up in a Middle America city, where blue-collar jobs dried up and the Appalachian culture, while one of love and loyalty, can also be one of tension and dysfunction. Vance chronicles his grandparents’ alcoholism and abuse, his mother’s drug addiction, and “hillbilly” culture that he says encourages social rot.
Vance had considered running for U.S. Senate against Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2018, but passed on the run. Brown would go on to defeat little-known Congressman Jim Renacci (R, OH-16) on his way to win a third term. Despite low engagement in the crucial swing state, which had already begun to develop its now-distinctly Republican-leaning profile, Brown underperformed the national environment slightly and now faces perhaps the toughest race of his Senate career, as Ohio is not only likely to back Trump by more than ten points – an unprecedented margin for Ohio in modern times – but Vance is also likely to help shore up additional support for Republican nominee Bernie Moreno.
Vance opted for a Senate run in 2022, defeating then-Congressman Tim Ryan (D, OH-13) by just under seven points. Vance is the first Ohio Senate without previous government experience since astronaut John Glenn (D) took office in 1974.
Realignment among working-class communities and certain suburban communities across the Rust Belt have been fully embodied by the changes in Ohio, with the most staggering change in the last few cycles being that of Mahoning County (Youngstown). A famous steel city solidified by labor unions, Youngstown backed Democrats in presidential races from 1936 to 2016, with exceptions of landslide GOP years in 1956 and 1972. Trump flipped Mahoning County in 2020. Vance was able to win Youngstown, even as his opponent hailed from the city, and retain the new coalition of GOP voters in this part of the country.
It is the hope of the GOP that Vance can help Trump solidify his and the party platform’s standings in those types of communities, as well as win back some of those that swung towards Biden in 2020.
Trump is the first president to pick a different running mate than the one with whom he first served since Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-NY). Roosevelt was elected four times and had three different vice presidents throughout his tenure. In terms of nonconsecutive terms, Trump is the first president to seek a second nonconsecutive term since Grover Cleveland (D-NY), who was initially elected in 1884, lost to Benjamin Harrison (R-IN) in 1888, and was defeated Harrison in 1892. Cleveland selected a different running mate each time.
Trump ran with Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) in 2016, who then launched a long-shot presidential bid last year against his former boss, the first time such an event occurred since John Nance Garner (D-TX) ran against FDR in 1940.
Additionally, Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to be nominated three times since Richard Nixon (1960, 1968, and 1972), and the first Republican in history to earn three consecutive nominations.
As Republicans have officially finished their party business in Milwaukee, the Trump-Vance ticket now hits the campaign trail with a rally set for Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday. The Democratic National Convention will not take place until late August, where Joe Biden (D-DE) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) are expected to be renominated.
In other presidential news, Independent Cornel West has made the ballot in Nebraska, worth five split electoral votes. West, author, philosopher, and affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America, is launching a long-shot presidential bid alongside Trump, Biden, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Jill Stein.
In special election news, Democrats held a primary Tuesday night for New Jersey’s Tenth Congressional District. The district became vacant in April after six-term Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (D) died of a heart attack.
Since Payne died so close to the June 5 New Jersey Primary, ballots were already printed and he remained on the ballot and won the primary posthumously.
Eleven Democrats vied for the nomination in the Newark-Orange-based seat that includes portions of deep-blue Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. With a Partisan Voting Index (PVI) of D+30, NJ-10 is thirty points more Democratic than the nation overall. As such, winning the Democratic nomination for this seat is tantamount to winning the election outright, as Republicans are vastly outnumbered in this part of the state. The best result a Republican was able to give against Payne since Payne won a special election unopposed in 2012 was a mere 20% of the vote in 2022.
Party establishment was behind Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver (D), who won the primary with 47.3% of the vote. McIver will face off against businessman Carmen Bucco (R) in the September 18 special election. McIver is expected to coast to victory without significant opposition.
State
Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has kicked off her “listening tour” across the state to engage with educators and stakeholders regarding smartphone usage among students during school hours.
The move comes just a month after Hochul signed the first-in-the-nation law that gives parents more oversight of what their children see on their phones and at what times of day, and restricts social media companies from employing algorithms deemed to be addictive on childrens’ phones.
“We can help our young people succeed in the classroom by ensuring they’re learning and growing – not clicking and scrolling,” said Hochul. “That’s why I’m working with all stakeholders across the state to develop effective solutions on smartphones that help protect our kids’ mental health and deliver the best results for our schools.”
Hochul began the tour at Guilderland High School in the Capital Region. A recent Pew Research survey found that 72% of high school teachers say that cell phone use amongst their students is a “major problem,” and that 60% of high school teachers found it was somewhat or very difficult to enforce their school’s policies on cell phone usage.
Hochul says keeping relegating enforcement codes to the individual school districts is not proving effective at curbing the difficulties teachers face in the classroom. She called a ban on cellphones in school is the “next frontier” after her aforementioned legislation regarding children and cell phones.
While cell phones in the classrooms are already considered distracting, Hochul says that the devices are leading students to fight and/or stage situations purely for social media clout.
“It’s instigating more fights and they’re setting up activities that they want to capture so they can become a social media star themselves, so it’s feeding itself and the constant pull of attention away from their studies,” said Hochul. “I’m not blaming the kids, I’m not blaming the parents, I’m not blaming the administrators. It’s hard enough for adults to pull themselves away from cell phones, I can’t imagine how hard it is for these young people as well.”
While a specific plan has not yet been made public, Hochul has said that any statewide policy would allow for emergency contact between students and parents.
New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks said last month that he’s “very much leaning towards” banning cell phones in New York City schools.
Local
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) has announced that two County beaches are extending their operating hours during the summer heat wave.
Smith Point Beach in Mastic and Cupsogue Beach in Westhampton will remain open an additional hour, closing at 6:30p.m. until further notice.
“Residents cannot be left high and dry in the heat wave,” said Romaine in a statement. “Increasing access to these most popular county beaches is a matter of public health and sound decision-making.”
Romaine also emphasized the importance of safety at the beaches.
“Safety is the most important part of any day near the water,” said Romaine. “Please adhere to the rules, pay attention to lifeguards and signs. Be careful.”
Romaine listed several tips and reminders for beach safety: only swim within the buoys of a lifeguard on duty; be conscious of riptides and swim parallel to the shore to get out of the current before heading back to shore; swim sober; never swim alone; and check local advisories before swimming.
