While President Donald Trump remains the primary target for Democrats, several prominent party leaders are shifting their attention toward Vice President JD Vance as they prepare for the 2028 presidential race.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear made this strategy clear during a weekend visit to Butler County, Ohio — Vance’s birthplace — where he delivered sharp criticism of the vice president at a Democratic fundraising event Saturday evening.
Beshear attacked Vance’s well-known autobiography about his difficult childhood, claiming the vice president had turned his back on the very communities he once chronicled.
“His book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ was really hillbilly hate,” Beshear told the fundraiser audience. “It is poverty tourism, because he ain’t from Appalachia.” The governor also described the memoir as having “trafficked in tired stereotypes.”
Beshear’s pointed remarks signal both his own potential White House ambitions and recognition of Vance’s position as Trump’s likely successor within the Republican movement.
Democratic strategist Lis Smith emphasized the importance of early opposition research against the 41-year-old vice president. “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 explained. “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 team dismissed Beshear’s comments through spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk, who responded: “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?”
California Representative Ro Khanna was among the earliest Democrats to concentrate on Vance, delivering speeches at the City Club of Cleveland and Yale University — where both he and Vance attended law school — that portrayed the vice president as more radical than Trump.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, considered another possible 2028 Democratic candidate, criticized Vance in November while arguing the current administration doesn’t support working Americans. “At least with Donald Trump, he’s transparent about that,” Shapiro stated. “JD Vance is a total phony.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has adopted an especially aggressive approach, creating the social media nickname “JD ‘Just Dance’ Vance” and mocking his physical appearance by saying Vance “grew a beard and lost his spine.”
Smith, who managed Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign and continues working with the former Transportation Secretary, views these attacks as rehearsals for future campaigns. “There’s definitely value in taking on Vance to show Democrats, hey, this could be me on the debate stage against him,” she noted.
Vance grew up in Middletown, located in Butler County, and gained national recognition when “Hillbilly Elegy” was published in 2016. The book established his reputation as someone who could interpret Trump’s appeal among middle America, particularly working-class, rural white voters who helped secure Trump’s initial victory.
This background helped Vance win his 2022 Senate race and eventually the vice presidency. The same narrative will likely form the foundation of any future presidential campaign — making it a prime target for Democratic opposition.
Saturday’s fundraiser audience clearly responded negatively when Vance’s name was mentioned, erupting in boos.
“I don’t think he’s got the magic that everybody looks at with Trump,” said Theresa Vacheresse, a retired physician and business owner who attended the event. “I think when Trump is gone, the Democrats might have a chance. My god, I hope so.”
This early focus on a sitting vice president follows typical political patterns, especially for someone as young as Vance who’s viewed as a future nominee. Republicans similarly targeted Kamala Harris during her time under President Joe Biden to damage her political prospects.
Jamal Simmons, who served as Harris’ communications director in 2022 and 2023, explained the vulnerability of the vice presidential position. “The party is built to defend the president more than it is the vice president,” he observed. “The vice president’s kind of out there on their own, to defend themself, and find friends where they can.”
Republicans, including Vance, regularly connected Harris to challenging Democratic policies like immigration and border security during her tenure.
David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, described the vice presidency’s challenges: “Being vice president is a very mixed blessing. You often don’t have the assets of the president, but you inherit all of the president’s record. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Beshear represents an unusual case as a Democratic governor leading a heavily Republican state, positioning himself as someone capable of reaching voters who have rejected his party.
He argued Democrats can “actually go and win back those voters that JD Vance is so condescending to” by concentrating on fundamental American concerns like affordable healthcare and public safety.
“We’ve gotta start talking to people and not at them,” Beshear said. “That’s how I won counties in eastern Kentucky that normally vote for Republicans by large margins — including Breathitt County. 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.”
The fundraiser attendees responded enthusiastically to Beshear’s presentation.
“I think he’s first-rate,” said Mark Kaplan, a Butler County resident. “What he’s got is compassion, empathy, charisma and intellect, but he’s also down-to-earth.”
