Vice President JD Vance voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as the next U.S. Secretary of Defense on Friday night and might feel a little like Ohio State quarterback Will Howard.
Vance, an Ohio State alum, celebrated Hegseth’s confirmation with an anecdote referencing his alma mater’s recent 34-23 national championship victory over Notre Dame.
“As I learned with the Buckeyes just a week ago, when you win the championship, the score doesn’t matter. We won the championship on this one. We have a great secretary at Defense, we’re proud of him, and he’s going to do a great job,” Vance said.
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Vance has been on a roll with sports analogies recently.
After former President Joe Biden falsely insisted that the Constitution had been amended to include the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment, Vance mocked that notion with a comparison to baseball.
Vance responded to Biden’s statement in an article on X, joking that Biden should disgrace the MLB icon. Pete Rose in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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“Hey Joe, if we do some fake shit on the way out, can you declare Pete Rose for the Hall of Fame?” Vance wrote, in reference to an infamous baseball debate. Rose, the all-time MLB leader who died in September, was banned from the sport for life for illegally betting on games.
Vance, meanwhile, was able to witness the Buckeyes’ first national title since 2014 on the same day as his inauguration with President Donald Trump. Vance has been a proud and vocal Ohio State football fan throughout his political career as a former state senator.
Vance even joked about skipping Monday’s inauguration to watch the Buckeyes take on Notre Dame in Atlanta.
Usha Vance stood out from the crowd by wearing a pink coat on inauguration day. (Chris Kléponis)
“I hope everyone is OK with me skipping the inauguration so I can go to the national title game”, Vance joked in a social media post.
During the campaign, Vance revealed that he told Trump that his loyalty to the Buckeyes could affect Trump’s chances of winning the key battleground state of Michigan.
“When he first asked me to be vice president, I said to myself, ‘Well, you know, I hope we don’t lose Michigan by like 900 votes, because you’re going to regret. Because it’s probably only a thousand votes.” — pissed off Wolverine fans who wouldn’t vote for a Buckeye,” Vance said during an appearance on OutKick’s. “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
“But I think most Michiganders will be able to put sports rivalries aside and put country first, which, of course, is the most important thing for all of us.”
The Democratic National Committee attempted to exploit Vance’s ties to the state of Ohio with a Michigan campaign strategy in early September. The DNC flew over a Michigan football game on September 7 with a banner that read: “JD Vance [loves] Ohio State [plus] Project 2025.”
However, the Trump-Vance ticket ended up easily carrying Michigan.
Ohio State players celebrating their national title and JD Vance (Getty Images)
Hegseth, 44, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, won the top Pentagon job after weeks of intense political drama following his nomination and public scrutiny of his personal life.
The Senate was deadlocked 50-50 with three Republicans: Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — joining Democrats in opposing Hegseth’s confirmation.
The impasse forced Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote, thereby securing his confirmation.
“This isn’t the first time the headline says, ‘Young enlisted Marine bails out junior Army officer,'” joked Hegseth, a former PK Press Club host, referring to Vance’s previous service in the United States Marine Corps.
