Former President Donald Trump's running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, returned to Middletown, Ohio, on Monday as the senator's hometown sits at the crossroads of the heartland crisis that has shaped American politics in recent decades. 'This town was so good to me,' the GOP senator said during a rally at Middletown High School in Ohio, from which he graduated in 2003. 'I came from Middletown, Ohio. I’m proud of it,' he said, 'and I’ll never forget where I came from.
Interstate 75, which connects Miami, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, before finally ending on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, passes just east of downtown Middletown. Middletown is MAGA country Middletown is located in Butler County, which broke even heavier for Trump in 2020 than did wider Ohio. More than 61% of voters in the county pulled the lever for Trump in the last presidential election, compared with just 37% voting for Biden. Local steelmaker plans $1.