"Where's J.D.?": Vance's Ohio Senate campaign prompts GOP concerns

The rookie GOP candidate goes days without any public events, and his campaign gives little information about his whereabouts.

He has been slow to build a fundraising operation, and a ground game, and is being dramatically outspent on air while racking up a nearly $900,000 in campaign debt last quarter. And now, a super PAC with ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to spend a staggering $28 million on television ads here to save a Senate seat once viewed as a lock— and deny Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan a chance for a major, midterm upset.

“J.D. is running a campaign where the faithful in the state, the county chairmen, the precinct executives, the executive committee and the Republican Party are saying, ‘where’s J.D.?'” said Bill Cunningham, a conservative radio talk show host in Cincinnati for the past 40 years. “And they want him to do things. People want to meet him. They want to. This is a new guy, new kid on the block.”

Cunningham added: “He’s been spoken to by at least one US senator and at least one governor he respects to kick him in the ass.”