According to US media projections, a candidate backed by former President Donald Trump has won a close GOP primary to run for a crucial Ohio senator seat.

Like many Republicans, 37-year-old JD Vance was initially critical of Trump and even called the former president “America’s Hitler” before becoming an ardent supporter and emulating his populist style.

A former Marine and graduate of the prestigious Yale Law School, Vance rose to fame in 2016 with the publication of a memoir in which he sought to explain why white working-class voters were impressed by the candidacy of a New York mogul like Trump. .

In Ohio, several Republican candidates ran for the nomination in a race focused on how loyal they should be to Trump, who kept repeating that the party won the 2020 presidential election.

Moderate Republicans, including incumbent Senator Rob Portman, fear the Democrats could win the November midterm elections if party candidates support the unsubstantiated claims.

“I definitely have to thank Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States,” Vance said in his celebratory speech.

“A lot of ‘fake news’ media out there… wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not the ‘Death of America first agenda. Place,’ said Vance. .

In the November election, Vance will face off against moderate Democrat Tim Ryan, a member of the House of Representatives from the working-class district.

The other senator from Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown, who has a political style similar to Ryan’s, gives the party hope they can win the critical seat in a state habitually biased towards Republicans.

The US Senate is split (50-50) between the two parties, meaning the November election could tip the balance in the Upper House of Congress.