CLEVELAND — With five weeks to go until the Iowa Caucus and Donald Trump hold on to a commanding lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the question has come up: Who might his vice presidential selection be if he wins the nomination?
Last week, Axios looked at "How Trump would build his loyalty-first Cabinet." The piece citing sources who talk often with the former president put Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on a short list of vice presidential hopefuls.
Vance, who owes his 2022 election to an endorsement by Trump in last year's crowded Republican primary, has emerged as a strong supporter of the former president.
Appearing on CNN Sunday, Vance was asked by host Jake Tapper about his interest in vice president and didn't say no.
"Look, I was elected to be a Senator for the people of Ohio," said Vance. "I think that's the way that I'm most effective but I'm going to help Trump however I can because I think he was a good president. I think the American people will benefit from having him president again."
The Senate is in its final days before winter recess, and Vance was unavailable to talk with News 5 on Monday. Still, it is a topic we first discussed with him in November of 2022 following his closely watched victory last year over Democrat Tim Ryan. Vance was asked if he'd be open to being part of his party's ticket.
"You're the first person to ask me that and certainly not," Vance said. "I think my wife would kill me and probably a few other people as well. I look at this as I just completed a very long job interview and I got the job. And part of that job is I serve six years to the people's work in the state of Ohio, that's what I plan to do."
Any consideration of Vance for vice president is not without precedent. The man he replaced in the Senate, Rob Portman, was only a year and a half into his first term in 2012 when he ended up on Mitt Romney's shortlist for vice president; he told News 5 last year before his retirement that we'll never know how close he got. Romney eventually chose Rep. Paul Ryan.
"It was an interesting time, a lot of press attention, a lot of filling out of questionnaires," said Portman.
The state's senior senator, Sherrod Brown, can also relate to that. Before Hillary Clinton chose Tim Kaine as her running mate, Brown was on her short list. He talked about that process with News 5 in 2016.
"It lasted 32 days. It was arduous, they ask a lot of questions," said Sen. Brown. "I sat in a room with six lawyers by myself and answered a lot of questions about a lot of things and then I had the honor of 90 minute meeting with Secretary Clinton."
A factor in the consideration of Brown and Portman in those elections was their potential ability to sway the Ohio voters who elected them to support the ticket they'd be on.
Jacob McElroy of Cleveland said he doesn't think geography has as much sway as ideology these days, with voters going with who they most relate to as opposed to who they might share an area code with.
A different Jacob, Jacob Sriniivasan of Cleveland, said what may be more of a factor for voters like him is age. Vance is 39.
"I'd say for a lot of people absolutely, I've heard a lot of people talk about it, especially the presidential ticket, you know, you got two guys over the age of 70, I don't know how relateable that is for a lot of people," he said.
Vance will turn 40 three months before the 2024 election. The last vice president to take office at that age or younger? Richard Nixon turned 40 just eleven days before being sworn in as President Eisenhower's vice president in 1953.
The last Ohioan to run on a major party ticket for vice president was former Governor John Bricker, who was Thomas Dewey's running mate on the Republican ticket in the 1944 challenge of President Franklin Roosevelt in his successful bid for a fourth term.
