The Middie Marching Band at Middletown High School has been asked to perform at the 2025 Presidential Inaugural Parade on Jan. 20. Photo: Provided by Middletown City School District

JD Vance, the Middletown native and next Republican Vice President of the United States, has asked students from his alma mater to join him and President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. for Inauguration Day.

According to a Dec. 5 new release from the Middletown City School District, the Middie Marching Band and cheer squad have been invited to perform in the 2025 Presidential Inaugural Parade on Jan. 20.

“This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes thanks to a special invitation from Vice President-Elect JD Vance, a 2003 graduate of Middletown High School,” the release reads.

Middletown High School Principal Carmela Cotter said the district is “honored” to celebrate Vance in D.C.

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“We are honored and excited to be included in this historic moment and represent our district, city, county, and state in celebration of Middletown High School alumnus, Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance,” Cotter said in the release.

David Leisten, director of bands at Middletown High School, echoed the same pride.

“We are honored to represent Middletown High School in the 2025 Inaugural Parade and understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students,” Leisten said.

Several Middie parents told CityBeat they are excited for their students to attend the historic event.

“Band mother here!!!! We are ecstatic for these kids!!!” one parent wrote on Facebook.

“We’re very excited that she gets to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity,” another parent wrote to CityBeat. “Yes, we do support Trump/Vance.”

But one mother, who CityBeat is not identifying for the sake of privacy, said her daughter is choosing not to attend the inauguration out of protest.

“She decided not to go because it is celebrating Vance and Trump,” the Middie mother said. “None of their views align with the values that we teach our children at home. Especially with my daughter being a young Black woman that identifies as part of the LGBT community, she told me that it made her uncomfortable doing anything to celebrate them while they are actively trying to remove her rights in multiple aspects.”

Ohio Senator George Lang (R-West Chester Township) confirmed to Fox19 that he was the one to extend the invitation to the Middie Marching Band after speaking to a member of Vance’s team.

During a July campaign rally for Vance at Middletown High School, Lang said a “civil war” may be necessary if the Trump-Vance ticket were to lose in November.

“I’m afraid if we lose this one, it’s gonna take a civil war to save the country, and it will be saved,” Lang said while warming up the crowd in Middletown High School’s auditorium. “It’s the greatest experiment in the history of mankind. If we come down to a civil war I’m glad we got people like us.” 

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Lang later walked back his statements, blaming “excitement of the moment.” The recently re-elected state senator has reportedly pledged $1,000 to help cover the cost of sending the Middie Marching Band to D.C., and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has also pledged $10,000.

“When I went to school, I didn’t have any money and definitely couldn’t afford a trip to Washington D.C.,” Jones said in a Dec. 5 Facebook post. “So, I’m making sure these kids can participate in an experience of a lifetime.”

Jones also asked local businesses to “reach into their pockets and lend a hand” to help send the Middies to D.C.

Middletown City Schools said the district will be footing the bill so parents and students won’t have to pay anything, but added that donations can be made to the Middie Marching Band to help support the trip.

A district spokesperson told CityBeat they’re “not sure” if Vance has offered to cover any costs associated with the trip, adding that the only known donations so far are from Lang and Jones.

CityBeat asked Vance’s team if the millionaire Hillbilly Elegy author planned to donate to the fund, but his team did not respond. Vance has a net worth of around $10 million, according to Forbes, and the book he wrote about Middletown is no small part of this fortune.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis reportedly sold more than three million copies, catapulting him to rapid relevance in 2016. The book went on to get a Netflix adaptation in 2020, starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams. The best-selling book tells the story of Vance’s upbringing in Middletown, chronicling his mother’s opioid addiction, being raised by his “Mamaw’s” Appalachian values and how abuse and poverty shaped his view of white, poor, working class Middletonians and Americans. Critical reception for Vance’s memoir was mixed, even in Middletown; some thought the story was inspiring, others exploitative.

CityBeat asked Middies themselves what they thought of Vance’s portrayal of Middletown during his 2022 Senate run, with most respondents taking issue with Vance’s generalizations, if they knew who he was at all.

Still, in 2024, 62% of Middletown voters cast ballots for Trump-Vance. 

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CityBeat explored the strained relationship between Vance and the hometown he marred in his 2016 memoir in the limited-series podcast “Elegy: The Many Myths of JD Vance.” Episodes are available to stream on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Follow CityBeat’s staff news writer Madeline Fening on X and Instagram.

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This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 10, 2024.