The chatter started last year in Del Ray, the liberal enclave eight miles south of the White House in Northern Virginia, after word spread that a not-so-liberal U.S. senator had paid $1.6 million for a house in the neighborhood.
J.D. Vance’s presence became well-known enough that Pierce Kreutzer was not surprised recently when he saw Donald Trump’s pick for vice president outside with his three children while they ran a lemonade stand.
“He has chatted with me a few times because I’m one of the only people in the neighborhood who look like a Republican,” Kreutzer said, referring to his taste for khaki pants and golf shirts.
Kreutzer described himself as far from a Republican and said the senator’s choice of real estate suggests his conservative brand of politics may be less than authentic.
“He railed against the liberal elites and then he picked the wealthy liberal neighborhood outside D.C. to bring up his kids,” said Kreutzer, 35, a commercial real estate broker who lives a few doors away. “He’s more aligned, truly, with people like me than he is with your typical Trump voter.”
A short drive from Reagan National Airport, Del Ray is an affluent neighborhood in Alexandria, where President Biden won more than 80 percent of the vote in 2020. On Tuesday, the day after Trump chose Vance as his running mate, neighbors on the senator’s street said they had seen him come and go but had not talked with him at length.
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And most were good with that.
“It doesn’t bother me that he lives here. He’s got to live somewhere,” said Caroline Barna, 35, Kreutzer’s wife, who said she encountered Vance’s family trick-or-treating last Halloween. “His politics aren’t great. I don’t agree with him, but what are you going to do?”
Ginny Richards, a retired social worker, said that her husband has pointed out the house when they pass by and that they both say it’s “too bad he lives so close.” The only upside she can imagine to Trump winning the White House is that Vance would move to the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington, the vice president’s official residence.
According to property records, the century-old home where Vance and his family lives was purchased by a limited liability company in February 2023. Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) confirmed that the house — 2,500 square feet with five bedrooms, 3½ baths and a guesthouse — belongs to Vance.
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An officer in a police cruiser was parked across the street Tuesday.
The senator’s office did not respond to a request for comment about his choice of digs.
For generations, Washington’s powerful have resided in the city and surrounding suburbs, whether it’s Georgetown, where President John F. Kennedy lived when he was a senator; Kalorama, where Barack Obama bought a mansion after leaving the White House; or Great Falls, where Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) owns an estate he uses when he’s not at the governor’s mansion in Richmond.
Wilson said Alexandria is accustomed to hosting VIPs and their security details, including more than 100 members of Congress who live there these days, along with “a ton of sub-cabinet” officials. Gerald Ford, when President Richard M. Nixon appointed him vice president, lived in Alexandria and sent his children to local public schools.
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“I don’t love everyone talking about where politicians live,” the mayor said. “We generally try not to draw too much attention to that.”
Word spreads, nevertheless. After the house where Vance lives was purchased, a local artist “yarn-bombed” the neighborhood with strips in rainbow colors and Pride flags, the Washingtonian reported in March 2023. One crocheted sign read “Respect Our Rights” in pink lettering and was wrapped around a tree.
Vance’s house is a couple of blocks from Mt. Vernon Avenue, the neighborhood’s commercial corridor, where offerings at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub include quiche Lorraine, arugula salad and a sandwich known as the Alexandria — a combination of quinoa, roasted zucchini and sharp provolone. A mural on the cafe’s exterior features Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison.
Across the street, an establishment known as the Dog Store has handed out hundreds of lawn signs with the words “REJECT HATE,” designed by owner Paul Haire, 71, and others in 2017 after a gunman wounded Majority Whip Steven Scalise (R-La.) at a congressional baseball practice on a nearby field.
Haire described himself as conservative on economic and national security issues, and liberal on social concerns. “I’m one of those very confused personages,” he said. “I was a hippie when I was young, and I run my own business now.”
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He said that he doesn’t agree with Vance’s positions on abortion and the war in Ukraine, and that the senator would dismiss him as a “RINO” — Republican in name only — even though he voted for Trump in 2020 and plans to vote for him again in November.
Haire has no problem with Vance living in the neighborhood and would welcome him as a customer because “that’s how Del Ray rolls. Reject hate — against anyone, anytime, anywhere.”
“I hope we’ll be a good influence on him,” he said.
Others said they felt less welcoming.
“I don’t like him being here,” said Pete Paccione, 41, a consultant who bought a house nearby several years ago. “I’m not a fan of him or his politics. With the heightened tension around politics, it makes me nervous. Everyone in the neighborhood is tense.”
Indeed, a half-dozen neighbors declined to comment Tuesday when asked about their neighbor. “Oh, I can’t talk to you,” one woman said, refusing even to open her door.
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Marc Greenberg, 58, a data analyst strolling on Mt. Vernon Avenue, described himself as a Democrat and said his “knee-jerk response” to Vance is: “I don’t like the guy.”
But he’s okay with the senator living in the neighborhood because “it says a lot about Del Ray — he picked a place that’s a great place to live.”
Vance’s choice of location doesn’t affect the way Greenberg views him politically or personally. But he said it does make him think the senator “has good taste” in real estate.
Marianne LeVine and Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.
correction
A previous version of this story said a gunman wounded Majority Whip Steven Scalise (R-La.) at a congressional softball practice in 2017. It was a baseball practice. The story has been updated.
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