JD Vance's Appalachia controversy explained (2024)

People in Appalachia are talking about "Hillbilly Elegy" ‒ and not all of them kindly.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance's bestselling memoir, which thrust him into the spotlight in 2016, gained renewed attention this week after Donald Trump announced Vance as his running mate.

"Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" was a New York Times bestseller and spawned a Netflix film in 2020. Published months before the 2016 presidential election, some thought leaders used it as an explanation for how Trump won working-class white voters in formerly blue states.

But responses to the book were mixed. While Vance recalled stories of his turbulent Ohio childhood, he also offered a critical view of his Appalachian roots.

Many Appalachian residents and writers responded, saying Vance mispresented the region and left out key perspectives and historical context.

New debates about Vance's ties to Appalachia have appeared on TikTok and X newsfeeds. Here's what to know.

Where is Appalachia?

The Appalachian Mountains runs along the eastern United States, extending from Mississippi to New York.

The Appalachian region, as defined by Congress, includes all of West Virginia and parts of several other states, including Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, eastern Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania and southern New York.

In Southwestern Ohio, the Appalachian region includes Clermont County.

Middletown, the Butler County city where Vance spent most of his childhood, is not in Appalachia.

Where is JD Vance from?

Vance's mother's parents, Bonnie Blanton and Jim Vance Sr., whom he called Mamaw and Papaw, were from Jackson, Kentucky, a city of around 2,100 people in the Appalachian region. In "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance recalled visiting his extended family in Jackson over summers and for memorials and funerals.

Vance's grandparents left Kentucky for Ohio – motivated by economic opportunity and a pregnancy scandal, Vance writes in his book – and briefly lived in Dayton before setting in Middletown. He spent much of his childhood in Middletown, but also lived in Preble County and other parts of Ohio.

What did JD Vance say about Appalachia in 'Hillbilly Elegy'

"Hillbilly Elegy" centered around Vance's chaotic childhood in Ohio, plagued by familial trauma, domestic violence, generational patterns of abuse and addiction. Vance recalled happier memories of visiting relatives in Kentucky, but also wrote about issues faced by Jackson residents, such as poverty and substance abuse.

Vance blamed some of these challenges on personal failings – such as poor spending habits and work ethic – both in Middletown and Jackson. He drew cultural similarities between the two cities because many of his Middletown neighbors were Appalachian transplants. Appalachians' migration to Southwest Ohio's industrial cities Middletown and Hamilton earned them the nicknames "Middletucky" and "Hamiltucky."

Critics of "Hillbilly Elegy" said Vance used his personal experiences to characterize an entire region. Due to the book's commercial success and timeliness of the 2016 election, some tried to use "Hillbilly Elegy" to explain how Trump won over previously Democratic areas. This gave Vance the reputation as the "Trump whisperer."

Some Appalachians felt mischaracterized by "Hillbilly Elegy" and said the book perpetuated harmful stereotypes that lacked diverse perspectives and historical context.

What have people from Appalachia said?

Appalachians responded to Vance's cultural critique in the form of poems, books, thought pieces and podcasts.

In 2019, dozens of Appalachian writers and residents responded to Vance's book with their own regional experiences in "Appalachian Reckoning." A few authors agreed with Vance's perspective, but most pushed back against it.

Now, some residents are talking about the book on social media.

"JD Vance should not be held up as a representative of Appalachia or working class people, as his book displayed a contempt for both," Appalachian author Silas House wrote on X. "His reprehensible rhetoric about LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and people of color has solidified the dog whistles he used in that book."

"'Hillbilly Elegy' was celebrated as an explanation for why white working class voters became attracted to Trump and for its compelling personal narrative, but what people largely ignored at the time was the utter contempt he (Vance) had for people facing economic hardship and the people that he grew up around," a host of "Appodlachia," a progressive Appalachian podcast, said on TikTok.

Steve Williams, a Democrat running for governor of West Virginia, reacted on X.

"I read 'Hillbilly Elegy.' It drove me crazy," he wrote. "It affirms negative stereotypes we've fought our whole lives to overcome. Appalachia has a rich culture and unbreakable resilience that should be celebrated, not reduced to harmful tropes."