Jd Vance's Ohio Hometown Struggles With How To Recognize The Incoming Vice President

It was a month after her son's election as vice president of the United States and JD Vance 's mother wondered why the city of his birth had yet to recognize him.

"I just think it would be really nice if we could acknowledge that this is his hometown and put up some signs," Beverly Aikins told the city council in Middletown, Ohio, where she and Vance's sister still live, in early December. "He graduated from Middletown High School, comes back here frequently to visit me and take me to dinner, and I humbly request that."

Perhaps in another historical moment, a few signs would seem like a no-brainer, but not this year and not for this person. The council was, instead, divided.

Many residents of this Midwest steel town are bursting with pride at their native son's accomplishments. But others feel lingering embarrassment over Vance's unflattering portrayal of Middletown in his best-selling memoir, " Hillbilly Elegy " or trepidation about Donald Trump's second White House term, or both.

The debate played out in the city's high-ceilinged council chamber, where subdued backlighting gives the room a Starship Enterprise aura. One council member suggested naming a street for Vance. Another suggested a statue of Vance's beloved Mamaw, the grandmother who raised him. A third tried to slow her colleagues down.