(NewsNation) — Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who was once one of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, entered the 2024 election as his running mate in July.
Trump announced his pick on Truth Social as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
He previously said his top consideration for a vice president is whether someone is qualified to take over as commander in chief.
JD Vance is Trump’s VP pick
James David Vance is a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio.
Swept to national prominence by his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance has held office for less than two years. During his short time in the Senate, the former venture capitalist from Ohio has established himself as one of the fiercest defenders of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, especially when it comes to foreign policy, trade and immigration.
Despite early criticism of Trump, Vance has forged a close relationship with the former president and his son Donald Trump Jr., who has talked up the senator.
Vance has become a fixture of the conservative media circuit, frequently spars with reporters on Capitol Hill and has appeared with Trump at fundraisers and in court.
After high school, Vance joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq. He then attended Ohio State University and later Yale Law School, where he graduated in 2013.
Vance is married to his law school classmate Usha Chilukuri Vance, with whom he has three children.
Before entering politics, Vance worked in the technology industry in Silicon Valley and later moved back to Ohio to start his own investment firm.
JD Vance’s path to Congress
Vance’s journey to Congress began with his rising profile as a conservative voice after his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” catapulted him into the national spotlight. The book’s exploration of working-class issues and cultural decline in the Rust Belt resonated with readers and policymakers supportive of Vance’s views.
In 2021, Vance announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate vacancy left by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Despite initial skepticism from some Republicans who cited Vance’s past criticisms of Trump, the author turned politician secured Trump’s endorsement during the primary. The former president’s support proved crucial in a crowded Republican field.
In the general election, Vance faced Democratic candidate Tim Ryan in a race the nation watched closely. Vance ultimately won and took office in January 2023.
JD Vance and Donald Trump
Vance’s relationship with Trump has been complex.
In 2016, Vance was one of Trump’s loudest critics, casting the then-reality TV star as “a total fraud,” a “moral disaster” and “America’s Hitler.”
However, Vance’s stance shifted as Trump’s influence in the Republican Party grew.
By the time of his Senate run, Vance had become a strong supporter of Trump and his policies. Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 Ohio Republican primary was seen as a major factor in Vance’s victory.
The senator also has strong connections with donors in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.
Since entering the Senate, Vance has generally aligned himself with Trump’s political agenda and style.
He has said Trump’s performance in office proved him wrong, and the senator now castigates the liberals who made his book a bestseller as they sought a window into understanding Trumpism.
Vance, 39, also adds an element of relative youth to the Republican ticket led by 78-year-old Trump, though voters may question his experience.
Vance’s political stances
As senator, Vance has not sponsored or co-sponsored any legislation that became law, according to Spectrum News. During his first term in office so far, he’s gotten a 93% score from the conservative advocacy organization Heritage Action for America.
Bills he has introduced include ones to criminalize gender-reassignment procedures for minors and one that would require a study on how people’s health was affected by a Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Vance, as well as Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who also represents Ohio, have been vocal about the need for more transparency around the train derailment.
Abortion
Vance is opposed to abortion and declared himself “100% pro-life” during his 2022 Senate run. As far as exceptions for rape and incest, Vance told The Washington Post in 2021, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
His policy has appeared to change in recent months, with the lawmaker telling CNN in December 2023 that the Republican Party must “accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
In his first interview since joining the GOP ticket, Vance told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he stands with Trump’s position that abortion rights should be left to the states.
“It is reasonable to let voters in states make those decisions,” Vance said. “Doesn’t mean we have to agree with it, but you have to have some respect for the political process.”
Economy
Trump’s campaign partner has built a brand on economic populism, diverting from the GOP’s traditional pro-business platform.
Vance partnered with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to crack down on big banks. Abroad, Vance has made his stance on the war in Ukraine clear, opting to reject any U.S. aid for the country. He was also a key figure in the unsuccessful attempt to block a $60 billion supplemental aid package to Ukraine.
“I think it’s ridiculous that we’re focused on this border on Ukraine,” Vance said in a podcast interview with Steve Bannon. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”
Impact on his Ohio seat
If Vance were to win the vice presidency, it would create a vacancy in the Senate. According to Ohio law, the governor would have the power to appoint a temporary replacement to serve until the next general election.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, would be responsible for selecting Vance’s replacement. That could allow DeWine to choose a more moderate Republican and potentially shift the ideological balance of the seat.
Ohio voters would have the opportunity to elect a new senator to complete Vance’s term in the next general election.
JD Vance’s ties to Project 2025
Like Trump, Vance has tried to steer clear of associations with Project 2025.
Although he didn’t have a hand in writing the conservative policy playbook, he has close ties with those who did.
Vance wrote a foreword for a forthcoming book by the leader of The Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025, which sparked speculation on the degree of separation between the vice presidential nominee and the plan.
Vance has also applauded Kevin Roberts for helping to turn The Heritage Foundation “into the de facto institutional home of Trumpism,” Politico reported.
The Ohio senator has endorsed some parts of Project 2025, saying that “there are some good ideas in there” while rejecting others.
“There are some things I disagree with,” he said in an interview with the conservative outlet Newsmax.
A spokesperson for Vance previously issued a statement saying the Republican vice presidential nominee has no involvement and “plenty of disagreements with what they’re calling for.”
Vance controversies
Vance’s comments calling prominent Democrats “childless cat ladies” resurfaced in the summer and drew criticism.
The comments came from a 2021 interview with former Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson. Vance claimed the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The then-Senate candidate specifically mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as examples.
Some women have since jokingly reclaimed the age-old trope.
Comments Vance made in 2021 about “violent” marriages also circulated online and sparked controversy. Vance made the remarks at an event at Pacifica Christian High School in Southern California. He previously said his comments had been misconstrued.
Vance had been responding to a question by a moderator referencing his grandparents’ relationship, which he detailed in his bestselling book “Hillbilly Elegy.” In the book, Vance described the couple’s marriage as violent but wrote that they reconciled once he was born and helped raise him.
“This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘Well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy, and so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,’” Vance said, according to a 2022 Vice article.
He went on to say that while that might have worked out for the parents involved, “it really didn’t work out for the kids of those marriages.”
“That’s what I think all of us should be honest about, is we’ve run this experiment in real time,” Vance said. “And what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that’s making our kids unhappy.”
The Ohio senator also faced backlash in September after promoting false claims Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are abducting and eating pets as he tried to draw attention to Democratic presidential nominee Harris’ immigration policies. Officials have said there have been no credible or detailed reports about the claims.
Some critics have also taken issue with Vance’s book, saying it paints a stereotypical and inauthentic view of Appalachia.
The Associated Press, NewsNation partner The Hill and NewsNation’s Tanya Noury contributed to this story.
