Venture capitalist and Yale Law School graduate J.D. Vance announced on Thursday that he is running for Senate in Ohio as a Republican, using his kickoff campaign to criticize "the elites and the ruling class" who are "robbing us blind."
Vance, 36, has the support of billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who invested in the fund Vance runs and donated $10 million to Protect Ohio Values, a pro-Vance super PAC that is now running digital ads to boost his name recognition. This is Thiel's "largest disclosed political donation ever," Politico reports, and helps Vance in what is becoming a crowded primary field.
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Vance announced his candidacy in his hometown of Middletown, and hit the current conservative talking points — he decried critical race theory and criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, Politico reports. He also declared that if Americans "look at every issue in this country, every issue I believe traces back to this fact: On the one hand, the elites in the ruling class in this country are robbing us blind, and on the other, if you dare complain about it, you are a bad person."
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