Ohio newspaper accused of racism for political cartoon mocking JD Vance, his Indian American wife

An Ohio newspaper is facing backlash for a political cartoon taking aim at Republican Senate candidate JD Vance at the expense of his wife.

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's major newspaper, published a cartoon last week depicting Democratic candidate Tim Ryan in the uniform of the Cleveland Guardians, formerly the Cleveland Indians, while Vance appears in a San Francisco Giants uniform with a quote bubble.

"Only Indians name change I support is my wife's to 'Senator J.D. Vance's Spouse,'" Vance exclaimed in the cartoon on Wednesday.

Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is Indian American. Cleveland's baseball team had been known as the Indians for over a century until changing its name to the Guardians last year.

"While the Cleveland Baseball team’s name change didn’t come up in the first debate between Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance, it had in a primary debate and Fox News interview when Vance hit former opponent Matt Dolan, whose family owns the team, over the name change. Vance had called out the Dolan’s for weakness giving into the ‘woke mob,'" political cartoonist Jeff Darcy explained in the article.