Ohio GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance walks back old tweets critical of Trump

Recently declared Ohio GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance has apologized for tweets critical of former President Trump dating back to 2016.

"Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016," said Vance, who is also the best selling author of "Hillbilly Elegy."

"I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I've been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy. I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak," Vance said during a Fox News appearance over the long weekend. 

A Trump endorsement in the competitive primary field for the Senate seat of retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman could help determine the winner of the 2022 race, as with other GOP midterm contests. 

CNN recently uncovered years old tweets from Vance, including one in which he declared that he was voting for fringe candidate Evan McMullin over Trump in 2016. Another of the now-deleted tweets was heavily critical of the former president's views toward "Immigrants, Muslins, etc." 

Vance now says that the "most important thing" is not what was said five years ago, rather "whether you're willing to stand up and take the heat and take the hits for actually defending the interests of the American people."

Vance's 2016 memoir, published just before Trump became the Republican presidential nominee, was considered a window into the thoughts of middle America voters, who helped Trump to victory.