On the evening of Feb. 3, 2023, a freight train full of toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and residents near the site feared long-term health consequences when a large black plume lingered in the area above homes for weeks.
A year later, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, 39, met with struggling members of the community and spoke with reporters. He urged President Biden to fund long-term health screening for residents in nearby areas.
“If you talk to people, this is people who want to move on from this disaster, this is people are still worried about chemical contamination, they want to know with confidence that 10 years down the road, if something happens to their kids, God forbid, or themselves, they can trace it to this accident or not,” the official Vance Senate page reads. “The only way to do that is to do the health baseline screening that we have talked about and we have tried to pressure the Biden Administration into doing something about – they have been completely unmoved on it.”
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Vance, a Middletown, Ohio native and current Cincinnati resident, first visited East Palestine following the Norfolk Southern train crash less than two weeks after hazardous materials spilled onto land and into nearby water. He implored Biden to “stop blaming Donald Trump” for the train derailment.
“Stop blaming Donald Trump, a guy who hasn’t been president for three years, and use the powers of the federal government to do the things necessary to help the people in this community,” Vance told Fox News’ Louis Tomlinson at the time.
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Vance posted a video to social media as he walked along a creek and showed video footage of chemicals clearly visible to the naked eye to viewers. He said in the video, “The fact that these chemicals are still seeping into the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine.”
Vance visited the site again in March and, in late August, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that East Palestine residents feel “abandoned” and “forgotten” by President Biden.
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“Over 100 days ago, Joe Biden promised that he would visit East Palestine, and he has broken this promise,” Vance said.
“Donald Trump showed up in East Palestine, and Joe Biden never did, and he hasn’t shown up anywhere else either,” Vance said of both the village in Ohio and Hawaii following the wildfires in Maui that killed nearly 100 people.
Over a year after the toxic spill, Biden made it to East Palestine.
Vance’s quick response to the train derailment and advocacy for local residents landed him in the spotlight and earned him a front row seat in the news for months. Trump joined Vance and other Ohio lawmakers on Feb. 22, 2023, to shake the hands of local residents and distribute water, food and other supplies to those desperately in need of necessities.
Leading into his successful run for elective office in 2022, Vance was a critic of Trump during his 2016-2020 presidency.
Now a vocal supporter of Trump, Vance was officially revealed as the 2024 GOP vice presidential pick by Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The former president announced his decision in a post on Truth Social just days after a gunman opened fire on him at a rally and attempted to assassinate him.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump posted.