Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday, in Milwaukee. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Maine Republicans voiced support for former President Donald Trump’s new running mate Tuesday, even if Ohio Sen. JD Vance wasn’t their first choice for the job.

“I think he’s a fantastic pick,” said Maine Republican Party Chairman Joel Stetkis in an interview Tuesday from Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is underway.

“He’s younger, and as a fellow veteran, him having been (in the U.S. Marine Corps) makes a big difference. He has a beautiful young family. He checks a lot of boxes.”

Maine Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, who also is attending the national convention, said in an interview that there are other people he would have liked to see nominated for vice president, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, who lost to Trump during the Republican primary.

But he said Vance is strong on foreign policy and has a “better grasp on the situation in Ukraine than a lot of the other candidates.”

Vance has been a staunch critic of U.S. support for Ukraine. “He has said a lot of the right things on the war in Ukraine and it makes me comfortable supporting the ticket,” Brakey said.

Vance, 39, is a former member of the Marine Corps who rose to fame after the 2016 publication of his book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” about growing up poor in Appalachia. He was elected to the Senate in 2022.

Trump announced his pick Monday and Vance is expected to speak at the convention Wednesday and again Thursday.

MAINE REPUBLICANS WEIGH IN

Stetkis said he believes Vance’s background will resonate with many Mainers.

“Economically, he grew up in a situation similar to myself and a lot of Mainers,” Stetkis said. “A lot of Mainers, we really identify with that sort of upbringing and family atmosphere. I think he’s very relatable to a lot of Mainers.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Vance “has a compelling life story, as he outlined in his best-selling memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’ ”

“His background will help him relate to younger Americans, as well as people from working and military families,” Collins said. “As a senator, he has shown himself to be a quick study and an effective debater, skills which have served him well.”

Collins is not attending the national convention, something that her office has said is not atypical. She has said she won’t be voting for Trump and plans to write in Nikki Haley for president.

State Rep. Austin Theriault, R-Fort Kent, who is running against incumbent Democrat Jared Golden to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, said on X Monday that Trump and Vance “will bring a much-needed and relentless focus to America’s biggest problems like inflation, the border, and protecting Social Security and Medicare.”

“Maine’s 2nd District needs this renewed focus badly,” Theriault wrote.

VANCE COULD DEFINE PARTY’S FUTURE

David Whitney, a Republican national committee member for Maine who is attending the convention, told the WVOM morning show Tuesday that he tried to keep an open mind ahead of the convention about who Trump would select for a running mate.

He said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was also reported to be on Trump’s short list for vice president, would be considered “closer to the middle” than Vance, but Vance “is very aligned with Trump’s policies and is quite capable on the debate stage.”

He said the selection may have been influenced by the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

“I think it’s a sign that Trump is emboldened because JD Vance is much in alignment with his policies,” Whitney said. “But it may be a signal that this incident was close and he wants his No. 2 to be closer in alignment with his line of thinking.”

Whitney did not respond to a phone message from the Press Herald seeking an interview Tuesday. He told the radio show that he had the chance to shake Vance’s hand Monday and the crowd at the convention was excited about the nomination.

“It’s electric,” he said. “The audience is so wound up, so excited for Donald Trump to be our presidential nominee and for JD Vance to join the ticket.”

L. Sandy Maisel, an emeritus American government professor at Colby College who has followed U.S. politics for decades, said Trump’s choice of Vance as running mate could help define the future of the Republican Party.

“The contrast at the convention of the adulation of Trump and Vance and the booing of (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell was so telling about what they think of governing,” Maisel said.

McConnell, he said, represents the old way – negotiating and then trying to find compromise.

“(Trump and Vance) stand for a populist, isolationist party that says, ‘We don’t need to do any of that,’ ” Maisel said.

In choosing Vance, a one-time Trump critic who has now fully embraced his style of grievance politics, the former and possibly future president has effectively “anointed his successor,” Maisel added.

CONVENTION CONTINUES

The national convention continues through Thursday, with Trump expected to address delegates Thursday evening.

Stetkis, the Maine GOP chair, said the mood at the convention has been one of excitement and there hasn’t been a lot of talk about the assassination attempt in Butler, though there is a strong security presence.

Stetkis said Trump made an appearance Monday night, helping to energize the crowd.

“There are all kinds of people from different backgrounds,” he said. “A lot of folks are fired up and on the team that traditionally over the years have not been. The big tent a lot of people say the Republicans don’t have is on full display now.”

Staff writer Eric Russell contributed to this report.