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FAIRFIELD, Ohio — <\/span>Although President Donald Trump<\/a> is the top Democratic nemesis, some of the party\u2019s most ambitious leaders are increasingly looking past him and at Vice President JD Vance<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the latest example, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear traveled to Vance\u2019s home county in Ohio, where on Saturday night he said the vice president had abandoned the communities that he wrote about in the memoir that made him famous.<\/p>\n Beshear said \u201cHillbilly Elegy,\u201d which detailed Vance’s hardscrabble upbringing, had \u201ctrafficked in tired stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis book \u2018Hillbilly Elegy\u2019 was really hillbilly hate,\u201d the governor said at a Democratic fundraiser in Butler County. \u201cIt is poverty tourism, because he ain\u2019t from Appalachia.\u201d<\/p>\n The broadside was not only a sign of Beshear\u2019s own potential presidential aspirations, but a reflection of Vance\u2019s status as the Republican heir apparent to the coalition that twice elected Trump to the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cWith every day that passes, we get closer to a day when Donald Trump is no longer president. And we need to prepare for that day,\u201d said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist. \u201cRight now, JD Vance is a clear front-runner for the 2028 nomination. And so we should begin defining him \u2014 not in 2027, not in 2028 \u2014 but today.\u201d<\/p>\n Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk brushed off Beshear’s criticism as coming from a flawed messenger.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time Andy Beshear attacks the vice president to try to get himself publicity, he ends up humiliating himself in the process<\/a>, but maybe that\u2019s something he\u2019s into?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California was among the first Democrats to begin focusing on Vance last year. Khanna stopped at the City Club of Cleveland and Yale University, where he and Vance studied law, and gave speeches that attempted to cast Vance as more extreme than Trump.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another potential presidential contender in 2028, singled out Vance in November while making the argument that the Trump administration did not care about working people. <\/p>\n \u201cAt least with Donald Trump, he\u2019s transparent about that,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cJD Vance is a total phony.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Democrats have coalesced around California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a strong candidate because of his aggressive strategy in going after Republicans. <\/p>\n He coined the nickname \u201cJD \u2018Just Dance\u2019 Vance” on social media, and he has mocked the vice president’s appearance, saying Vance \u201cgrew a beard and lost his spine.” <\/p>\n Smith, the strategist who led Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign and still works with the former Biden administration transportation secretary, said every line of criticism of Vance is an audition. <\/p>\n \u201cThere’s definitely value in taking on Vance to show Democrats, hey, this could be me on the debate stage against him,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n The vice president was born and raised in Butler County’s Middletown, and he rose to prominence with the publication of “Hillbilly Elegy\u201d<\/a> in 2016. The book earned Vance a reputation as someone who could help explain Trump’s appeal in middle America, especially among the working class, rural white voters who helped Trump win the presidency.<\/p>\n Vance carried that reputation to the U.S. Senate, winning election in 2022, and later to the vice presidency. That same background is likely to be central to any future presidential run \u2014 and it is precisely what Democrats are now working to undercut. <\/p>\n At Saturday’s Democratic fundraiser, the mere mention of Vance’s name drew a chorus of boos from the audience. <\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think he’s got the magic that everybody looks at with Trump,\u201d said Theresa Vacheresse, a retired physician and business owner who attended the event. \u201cI think when Trump is gone, the Democrats might have a chance. My god, I hope so.\u201d <\/p>\n The focus on Vance is not unusual for a vice president widely seen as a potential future nominee, particularly one as young as 41. Republicans went after Kamala Harris early in her tenure under President Joe Biden to undermine her political future. <\/p>\n Jamal Simmons, Harris\u2019 communications director in 2022 and 2023, said vice presidents can be vulnerable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe party is built to defend the president more than it is the vice president,\u201d he said. \u201cThe vice president’s kind of out there on their own, to defend themself, and find friends where they can.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans, including Vance, frequently tied Harris to some of the Democratic administration\u2019s most politically difficult issues, such as immigration and border security. <\/p>\n \u201cBeing vice president is a very mixed blessing,” said David Axelrod, who was a top adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama. \u201cYou often don’t have the assets of the president, but you inherit all of the president’s record. The good, the bad, and the ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n Beshear is the rare Democrat to lead a red state, and he is positioning himself as someone who can reach voters who have tuned out his party. <\/p>\n He said Democrats can \u201cactually go and win back those voters that JD Vance is so condescending to\u201d if they stay focused on Americans’ basic needs<\/a> such as affordable health care and public safety. <\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve gotta start talking to people and not at them,” he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I won counties in eastern Kentucky that normally vote for Republicans by large margins \u2014 including Breathitt County. That’s the county JD Vance pretends to be from. Donald Trump won it by 59 points. I won it by 22 points the year earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n The audience appeared delighted with Beshear’s message.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he’s first-rate,\u201d said Mark Kaplan, who lives in Butler County. \u201cWhat he’s got is compassion, empathy, charisma and intellect, but he’s also down-to-earth.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Cappelletti reported from Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n