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MIDDLETOWN, United States: US Vice President JD Vance returned to his hometown Friday to campaign for Republicans in November\u2019s crucial midterm elections \u2014 and test his own hopes of succeeding Donald Trump in 2028.<\/strong><\/p>\n Vance gave a speech at the steel plant where his grandfather worked for 40 years in Middletown, Ohio, the blue-collar town which featured in his bestselling 2016 memoir \u201cHillbilly Elegy.\u201d<\/p>\n The book recounted an impoverished upbringing in the neglected rust belt that spawned Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement, which Vance needs to woo if he runs for the White House in two years.<\/p>\n But Vance is also seeking to boost Republican candidates ahead of the midterms, amid fears that Trump\u2019s unpopularity could cause the party to lose control of Congress.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s approval rating has fallen to 33 percent, according to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll conducted last week, the lowest of his current term.<\/p>\n Vance took a subtly centrist tone in his speech, evoking his blue-collar upbringing while avoiding much of the harsh rhetoric that has made Trump so divisive.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember my papaw\u2026 coming to this very place to work for nearly 40 years as a welder,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n The isolationist vice president, who has privately opposed Trump\u2019s Iran war, said his grandfather had \u201cvery simple\u201d expectations including that \u201cAmerica never be asked to be the policeman of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Vance added that the Trump administration was \u201cmaking progress\u201d on issues including \u201cthe affordability question.\u201d Voters have voiced anger over rising prices, which his boss has dismissed as a hoax launched by rival Democrats.<\/p>\n But the 42-year-old also had harsh words for the opposition on subjects including immigration and so-called \u201cwoke\u201d politics.<\/p>\n Urging Republicans to vote in November, he said: \u201cGet out there and fight for yourself by telling the far-left radicals who have taken over the Democratic Party: \u2018This is not your country. It\u2019s our country, and we\u2019re going to fight for it.’\u201d<\/p>\n The race to succeed Trump in 2028 \u2014 assuming he does not try for a constitutionally barred third term \u2014 is set to begin in earnest after the midterms.<\/p>\n Vance has declined to formally confirm that he will run but has been clearly positioning himself as the heir to Trump\u2019s MAGA movement, albeit without the rough edges.<\/p>\n But many in the Republican party are also looking at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a contender.<\/p>\n Rubio has said he will not run if Vance does, but a poll by Emerson College and The Hill released this week found that Rubio outperformed Vance in all but one of five match-ups against leading Democratic contenders.<\/p>\n The Democrats meanwhile face their own struggles as they seek to rebuild from Trump\u2019s 2024 defeat of then-vice president Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n The left wing of the Democratic Party has scored a series of primary wins in recent months, even as centrists seek to distance themselves from socialist-style proposals like universal health care.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n