When JD Vance returned to Ohio from California in 2016, he created a "nonprofit" that was supposedly dedicated to addressing the Appalachian region’s issues with drugs and chronic unemployment. Our Ohio Renewal was supposed to “make it easier for disadvantaged children to achieve their dreams.” But the nonprofit closed its doors just two years later with no significant achievements other than paying a political consultant to help Vance launch his run for the Senate.
That wasn’t Vance’s only big failure in the area where he grew up. There was also the high-tech agriculture startup, AppHarvest , where Vance was an early investor, board member, and spokesperson. As Grist reported in 2023, AppHarvest promised to tackle the same issues that Vance’s shuttered nonprofit failed to address.
It promised good salaries, big bonuses, and opportunities for promotion. Workers would get 100% employer-paid health care, stock options, and boxes of their own fresh vegetables to take home. Those who had previously been incarcerated for issues related to opioid addiction were welcomed.
That was the promise. What AppHarvest delivered was a “grueling hell on earth.” As Capital and Main reported in July, Vance has taken a long trek from green energy investor to fossil fuel promoter over the course of his move from California banker to Donald Trump’s running mate.
That includes a flip-flop on providing protection to coal-based power plants. But AppHarvest looked like a company where.