The first-term senator from Ohio has had some hiccups on the campaign trail since Trump picked him to be his running mate, but his strong debate performance Tuesday night has won over Republicans who were skeptical about the pick.

Craig Shirley, a presidential historian and Ronald Reagan biographer, said that while he would have preferred Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Vance’s debate showing revealed why he got the nod.

“I was watching the debate with my wife, and watching Vance’s performance, I said to her, ‘This validates Trump’s pick doesn’t it?’” Shirley said. “Scott was my choice, and when Trump picked Vance, I said, ‘I don’t know about that.’ But he’s certainly vindicated the pick.”

Russ Jennings, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Committee in Michigan, said seeing Vance on the debate stage boosted enthusiasm for Trump’s selection.

“That’s the future of the Republican Party,” he said. “And I couldn’t see a better future if that’s our choice.”

Jennings had been pulling for Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) to get the vice presidential nomination, but seeing Vance’s performance this week against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) left Jennings impressed.

“He just was so sharp as a tack in that debate,” Jennings said. “We might want to check to make sure he’s actually a human because he killed it.”

Vance, who started with a net favorability rating of minus 3 percentage points, has been plagued by bad headlines and Democratic attacks for previous comments he made about “childless cat ladies” and the “weird” label Walz stuck to him before officially being tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. A polling average from FiveThirtyEight showed Vance with the lowest favorability rating of any vice presidential nominee in modern history.

But Vance’s strong Tuesday night debate showing could open a new lane for him. The Republican received praise from members of his party for his performance in which he defended populism using a style nearly opposite of Trump’s, with a polite tone and expressions of sympathy even for his debate opponent.

“I think that’s exactly why he was selected,” said Bob Darden, 60, who attended Vance’s Auburn Hills, Michigan, rally on Wednesday. “Just because he has that stature, he can carry himself. He’s dealt with all levels of society.”

Darden cited Vance’s upbringing in Appalachia and Ivy League education as a reason for his appeal, adding that “he just has a really broad spectrum of understanding of what we all believe.”

Shirley was most impressed when Vance got a question on threats to democracy and brought up the issue of censorship, calling it a jiu-jitsu moment that put Walz on the defensive.

Still, it will likely take more than one debate for Vance to completely rebound his favorability, which is much lower than Walz’s. Democratic strategist Brad Bannon pointed to a CNN poll that found Walz maintained a strong advantage in popularity, with a 59% favorability rating to Vance’s 41% figure.

“Vance, the Yale Law School graduate, was the most polished debater, but Walz, the high school social studies teacher, was warmer and more likable,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said. Walz’s likability edge “allows Harris the freedom to send her running mate to go after swing voters in the battleground states while Vance is still confined to churning out the vote among the Trump faithful.”

Mark Caleb Smith, director of the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville University, similarly downplayed the debate and Vance’s stylistic choices.

“He sounded as much like a ‘compassionate conservative’ as he did a MAGA populist,” Smith said, referring to the George W. Bush-era GOP mantra. “His message was fluid, and his ideology was not always defined. This fits with Trump in some ways, but I am not sure how much it branded Vance for the future.”

But with the election believed to be deadlocked in the swing states that will decide the outcome, Republicans will take any boost they can.

Vance was eager to talk about the debate while campaigning in Michigan, taking a victory lap as he tries to make a closing argument for voters who are already casting ballots using mail and early in-person options.

During his rally, Vance mocked Walz for mistakenly saying he’s “friends with school shooters” with a quip that it was, “probably only the third- or fourth-dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night.”

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Backing off a bit from Walz, he said the real issue was Harris’s record.

“I gotta be honest: I feel a little bad for Gov. Walz,” Vance said. “And the reason I feel bad for him is he has to defend the indefensible.”

Marisa Schultz and David Sivak contributed to this report.