US Vice President JD Vance tried to help the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee and former secretary of state, Vanity Fair revealed Wednesday, citing sources close to the effort. At the time a fierce Trump critic, Vance reached out to Jake Sullivan, Clinton's senior adviser, and passed the campaign advice through a back channel, hoping to help the Democratic nominee win.
A person who served as a liaison between Vance and Clinton's campaign told the magazine that Vance asked to be connected with Sullivan, who later went on to serve as national security adviser under President Joe Biden. At the time, the future vice president was known mainly for his best-selling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which was later adapted into a popular and influential Netflix series.
Despite being told that Sullivan was too busy with the campaign, Vance did not give up and called again. "I hate Hillary, but I hate Trump more," Vance said, according to the source. "Trump can't win. He can't win. Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to."
According to the same source, Vance insisted that Clinton needed to get to the swing states in the Midwest immediately, naming Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the states known as the "Blue Wall." "She needs to come here instead of being with Beyoncé in Miami," he said. "She needs to come here and apologize for the Iraq War. Apologize for sending so many people, my community, all the people in all these states, whose sons and fathers were killed and everyone just forgot about them."
Vanity Fair reported that Vance and Sullivan even spoke directly about six weeks before the election, shortly after Clinton said at a fundraiser that half of Trump's supporters could be placed in a "basket of deplorables." A source close to Sullivan told the magazine that he does not recall Vance talking about the "Blue Wall" states, but said Vance did push him to get Clinton to "fix the 'deplorables' issue." "She needs to focus," Vance reportedly said.
Vance's office denied the report ouright. "A lot of people asked the vice president for advice in 2016," his spokeswoman, Taylor Van Kirk, said. "He never worked for any campaign, but he called on both Republicans and Democrats to take care of working-class towns like Middletown, Ohio. We reject 100% the claim that he tried to help Hillary win."
In 2016, Vance publicly declared that he could not vote for either Trump or Clinton, and ultimately cast his ballot for independent candidate Evan McMullin. At the time, he even warned that Trump could become "America's Hitler." The turnaround came in 2021, when Vance aligned himself with Trump and the MAGA movement.
