THE message was clear as United States Vice-President JD Vance shook hands in his native Ohio with a woman wearing a "Vance 2028" cap — at least from his supporter's perspective.
Donald Trump's deputy has yet to declare that he will run for the White House in two years' time. But what was supposed to be a campaign rally on Friday for Republican candidates in November's US midterm elections in Lima, Ohio, looked a lot more like a Vance rally.
With a theatrical flourish, Vance descended from the steps of Air Force Two, the vice-presidential jet, and received a rapturous reception as he entered the event in a flag-draped airport hangar.
"Man, it feels good to be home," Vance said to cheers.
Unusually for Vance on the campaign trail, he then went down to greet the crowd in person — shaking hands, patting arms and meeting the lady with the black pro-Vance hat.
There's just one problem for Vance: the midterms themselves.
Polls show Trump's unpopularity, the Iran war and the price of living could cost Republicans their majority in Congress.
And Ohio, which voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections, has turned from a stronghold into one of the tightest electoral battlegrounds for the Nov 3 vote.
There are nail-biting races for Vance's old senate seat, currently held by Jon Husted, and for the governorship of Ohio, where former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is standing.
In a sign of Republican concerns, Vance's visit comes days after Trump travelled to the state and the 80-year-old president is due back there next week.
For Trump, losing control of Congress could mean he spends his last two years in office battling multiple Democrat-led investigations.
For Vance, losing Ohio could seriously damage a political brand that was largely built on the blue-collar roots in the state described in his bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy".
"I think it has nothing to do with 2028," he insisted to reporters when asked how important it was to win Ohio for Republicans as he looked to a presidential run. "It has to do with how we're going to govern our country over the next two years, the next 10 years."
Despite Vance's comments, the race for 2028 will effectively start the day after the midterms.
While Vance is widely considered the frontrunner to be Trump's heir, he's made no announcement yet and it's far from a done deal.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he won't run against Vance, but his speech on western civilisation against the backdrop of the Acropolis in Athens was widely seen as a pitch for the job.
There is a growing buzz around the youthful vice-president.
Like any good candidate, Vance is increasingly bringing his family on the stump.
The 42-year-old took his wife Usha, three of their four children and their dog Atlas on Air Force Two for the flight to Cincinnati, where Vance cast an early vote for the midterms.
Vance is also raising money. His role as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee puts him at the centre of a nexus of wealthy donors.
Politically, Vance is quietly trying to exorcise the vice-president's curse of being tied to the policies of the outgoing president — one that Kamala Harris suffered from in 2024.
His speeches have subtly positioned him as more conscious of the financial woes of US families, even as Trump dismisses what he calls the "affordability hoax".
Staking out his own positions also helps counter the idea that Vance is a political shape-shifter — he once compared Trump to Hitler before becoming his vice-president.
The recent Catholic convert on Friday sought to distance himself from another key administration figure, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, over the announcement that a US military firing squad execution would be livestreamed.
"I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's going to happen," Vance told a reporter travelling with him on Friday, adding that if it was going to be "through livestream, I'm not going to be watching it".
The writer is from AFP
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