Michael Steele on Vance-Walz match-up: ‘Hillbilly Elegy against the real hillbilly’

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele described the match-up between vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as a contrast between “Hillbilly Elegy” and a “real hillbilly.”

“I think you got the ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ against the real hillbilly. That’s going to be Yale versus the guy who actually spent all of his time on the ground fixing F-150s,” Steele said Tuesday on MSNBC, where he serves as a political analyst.

Steele was referring to Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” which details the senator’s experience growing up in Middletown, Ohio, surrounded by poverty and addiction. 

Vance, a 40-year-old Marine veteran and Yale Law School graduate, opened up in the book about how the Appalachia region transformed from Democratic to Republican and his chaotic family life

Walz, who leads a blue-leaning state in the American heartland, has roots in rural America. He was born in West Point, Neb., and moved to southern Minnesota in the 1990s with his wife. Serving 24 years in the Army National Guard, he has demonstrated the ability to connect with rural or veteran voters in past congressional races.

“I think his [Walz’s] narrative is a strong narrative,” Steele added in the interview, just a day after Vice President Harris named the Midwest governor as her running mate.

Walz climbed the ranks of Harris’s vice presidential shortlist with his attacks on former President Trump and Vance, calling the GOP duo “weird.” He also recently appeared to challenge the Ohio senator’s shooting skills, saying Vance couldn’t hunt like he can.

Vance, who was added to the GOP ticket during the Republican National Convention last month, said he called Walz after the announcement was made to congratulate him — while criticizing Walz as “far left” and questioning Harris’s decision to elevate him over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).

Steele pushed back on the critics who labeled Walz as “far left” and “progressive,” pointing to the governor’s voting record during his six terms in the House.

“I don’t buy the top line that some are pushing out that this is now a progressive ticket. Look at his voting record in the Congress, he’s far from progressive, and last time I checked, feeding kids lunch and breakfast was not a progressive or conservative thing, it was what a governor should do with the students in his state,” Steele said Tuesday, in reference to Walz’s universal free school breakfast and lunch for Minnesota kids.

“So, I think there are a number of counter narratives with respect to what the governor can say about what he did and how he led his state,” he added in remarks highlighted by Mediaite.

The more difficult question to answer will be around his handling four years ago of the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Steele argued.

“I’m sure that’s something, again, that they have figured out a response to,” he added. “But I think this is strong, I think it’s a strong pick.”

Republicans were quick to attack Walz over the protests, while some accused the governor of being a socialist for his backing of a number of progressive policies.