This June I began covering Butler County, which happens to include the city where JD Vance was born. One month later, when he was tapped as Donald Trump’s running mate, my job became the JD Vance beat.
Having family and friends in Middletown , and living there for a year myself, I was familiar with the city and locals’ polarized feelings about Vance. Some have been proud to watch his rise, while others felt betrayed and mispresented by his portrayal of Middletown in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance thrust his hometown of roughly 51,000 into the national spotlight first with the release of his book, and again on July 15. The day Vance was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate , city streets were crawling with local and national reporters (I was one of them)…