J.D. Vance blasts inaccurate news reports about his exit from AppHarvest ahead of likely Senate run



"Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance accused Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets of shaping a false narrative about his exit from the board of an agricultural tech company as he contemplates a run for U.S. Senate in Ohio.

Vance, a 36-year-old venture capitalist, on Wednesday resigned from the board of Kentucky-based tomato-grower AppHarvest. He was an early investor in the company and a member of the board of directors. Bloomberg first reported and various news reports subsequently claimed that he resigned after sending "controversial tweets" that criticized corporations for opposing Republican-supported election integrity laws passed in Georgia and proposed elsewhere in the nation.

Vance had tweeted that corporations that oppose the GOP laws should have their taxes raised or "whatever else is necessary to fight these goons."

At this very moment there are companies (big and small) paying good wages to American workers, investing in their c… https://t.co/d2oNRpAvMM
— J.D. Vance (@J.D. Vance)1618256459.0

Axios later reported that Vance had announced his intention to resign on March 22, well before sending the tweets in question, telling the board he was likely to run for Senate and did not want the company to become politicized.

On Friday, Vance issued a lengthy thread on Twitter disputing the narrative that he left AppHarvest because of his tweets, explaining his reasons for exiting the company, and condemning the media for false reporting.

"Alright, here's a story about how the media often shapes narratives instead of reporting the truth, and how a small untruth can morph into a lie that's repeated again and again throughout the media bubble," Vance tweeted.

He explained that as AppHarvest has become a successful publicly-traded company, his "ability to be useful" is "limited."

"I'm thinking about a political run, and whatever I do politically, I hate the insane reigning political orthodoxy," Vance said. "So last month, I started talking with other members of the board about stepping down. The basic thinking was: I'm going to keep speaking my mind, and I'd rather do that unconstrained by the demands of a public board. And I thought the company would be better off too.

"Now, do I think this is unfair? Yes. Do I think progressive board members at public companies are worried about their viewpoints affecting their companies? Obviously not, and the last few weeks have shown everyone: corporate America is totally in the tank for the left," he stated, appearing to refer to the united corporate statement signed by hundreds of CEOs expressing opposition to Georgia's new voting law and "any discriminatory legislation" that progressives claim would restrict ballot access.

Vance said that this "marriage between the left and corporate power" requires "political intervention" and that he did not want to drag AppHarvest into a political fight.

So Vance resigned from AppHarvest's board on April 9 and his resignation went into effect on Monday April 12.

"On April 13, Bloomberg's [Deena Shanker] posted a story that said Appharvest announced my departure 'in response' to a Bloomberg inquiry about my 'controversial statements.' I was only asked for comment 'via LinkedIn,' which is kind of like asking me for comment through MySpace," Vance recounted.

"The clear implication is that I was forced down because of my tweets. The only problem? The two 'controversial' tweets were posted on April 9, at 3:58, and on April 12. In other words, I resigned before I sent the tweets. And the suggestion that I was forced down is absurd," he said.

"I've seen this lie repeated in any number of media outlets, from local Louisville and Cincinnati papers to national outlets like the Washington Post. But let me just say again: the idea that I was forced out of Appharvest because of some tweets is obviously untrue. It is a lie.

"This is how too many in our press operate, and it's why the media is one of the least trusted institutions in society: Gin up a story, run it without proper sourcing, and let it run through multiple outlets. To everyone that's run this lie: please do your stealth edits."

Bloomberg's original report was corrected on April 16 to remove a reference to Vance's tweets in the headline and adjust the grammar in the paragraph that originally claimed Vance exited AppHarvest "in response" to an inquiry from Bloomberg about his tweets.

Vance is openly considering a bid for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

Report: 'Hillbilly Elegy' author J.D. Vance tells friends and colleagues he's running for US Senate seat in Ohio



"Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance is reportedly telling his friends and colleagues that he will run as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022, competing to win the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

Vance, a 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran, graduate of Yale Law School, and self-made venture capitalist resigned on Wednesday from the board of AppHarvest, a tomato grower based in Moorehead, Kentucky. According to a report from Axios, he told the other directors on the board that he is likely to run for Senate and did not want the company to become politicized after he launches his campaign.

Axios reported the best-selling author will seek to define himself as a bridge between former President Donald Trump's populist Make America Great Again movement and traditional establishment Republicans. He reportedly met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago recently along with supporter and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel to discuss his prospective campaign.

A self-described conservative and contributor at National Review, Vance rose to prominence in 2016 with the release of "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir that recounted his childhood upbringing in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, Ohio, and Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. The communities he was raised in and wrote about face intergenerational problems of poverty, violence, and social decline, problems Vance has dedicated his professional career to helping to alleviate.

He began his career as a venture capitalist with Mithril Capital, a firm cofounded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan. In 2017, Vance became a partner at AOL founder Steve Case's firm Revolution LLC, which funds startup companies in parts of the country typically ignored by Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Two years later in 2019 he co-founded a venture capital firm called Narya — named for a magical ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's writings that has the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination, and despair — which is based in Ohio.

As a writer and public speaker, Vance often calls attention to the so-called forgotten Americans Trump spoke up for in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns for president. In a recent interview with the Daily Wire, Vance said that as someone who rose out of poverty through a combination of luck and hard work, he feels a duty to help others do the same.

"These issues are very close to my heart," Vance said. "At a very fundamental level, I want people to be able to achieve a middle class lifestyle if they're hardworking, and for a lot of folks right now, it's pretty hard to get by. It's hard for complicated reasons; we've seen the decimation of the manufacturing base in Ohio and other parts of the country. I do think that these are really important problems — whether you work on them in the private sector or in the public, I certainly feel that it's my obligation to give a little bit back. I mean, I've had a pretty fortunate life, here. I came from pretty tough circumstances, was raised by my grandparents, got to where I am now through some combination of luck and hard work and definitely feel a little bit like I'm obligated to at least try to solve some of these problems, though it's definitely not just one person's effort. "

Vance believes the Republican Party needs to shape its agenda around immigration, trade policy, and pro-family policies to rebuild American's manufacturing base and give workers the opportunity to rise and build a vibrant middle-class.

He is also an outspoken critic of Big Tech, which he has referred to as an "oligarchy," and called for raising corporate taxes and doing "whatever else is necessary to fight these goons."

At this very moment there are companies (big and small) paying good wages to American workers, investing in their c… https://t.co/d2oNRpAvMM
— J.D. Vance (@J.D. Vance)1618256459.0
Establishment Republican apologies for our oligarchy should always come with the following disclaimer: “Big Tech pays my salary.”
— J.D. Vance (@J.D. Vance)1618322725.0

The Ohio Republican primary for U.S. Senate is already crowded, with at least 10 Republican candidates vying for the GOP nomination. Prominent candidates include former Ohio GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken, who is backed by several establishment Republican figures in Ohio, and former two-term state treasurer Josh Mandel, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in 2012 and ran again in 2018 before exiting the race citing his now ex-wife's health.