Republican Senate candidate JD Vance sought to deepen his populist appeal in Ohio by striking an “America First” tone and trivializing Russia’s threats to Ukraine. But that stance risks hurting his odds in a state with a large Ukrainian-American population.
Before the invasion, Vance said that he doesn’t really care what happens to Ukraine and the U.S. needs to pay more attention to its Mexican border. After Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine, Vance called it a tragedy but expounded on and stood by his stance that helping Ukraine can’t come before taking care of U.S. problems. But that’s a potentially hazardous gambit in Ohio, home to as many as 80,000 Ukrainian-Americans, one of the largest voting blocs in the U.S.
“I 100 percent can see Ukrainians and Ukrainian-Americans holding that against him,” said Peter Krafcik, former president of the Parma Republican Club, which sits in the Cleveland suburb that is home to more Ukrainian Americans per capita than any city in the U.S.
