Who is JD Vance? Things to know about Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick

Former US President Donald Trump on Monday chose Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate in his bid to return to power. White House.

Here are some things to know about Vancea 39-year-old Republican serving his first term in the Senate:

Vance rose to fame with his autobiography

He was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio. He joined the Marine Corps and served in Iraq, and later graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

Vance rose to fame with his autobiography, the 2016 bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was published when Trump was first running for president of the United States. The book earned him Vance a reputation that could help explain the maverick New York businessman’s appeal in the Midwest, especially among the white, rural, working-class voters who helped Trump win the presidency.

“Hillbilly Elegy” was also the presentation of Vance to the Trump family. Donald Trump Jr. loved the book and knew about it. Vance when he launched his political career. The two understood each other and are still friends.

First elected to public office in 2022

After what Donald Trump won the 2016 elections, Vance He returned to his native Ohio and created an anti-opioid charity. He also began speaking and was a favorite guest at Republican Lincoln Day dinners, where his personal story — including the struggles he endured due to his mother’s drug addiction — resonated with attendees.

The presentations of Vance They were opportunities to sell his ideas on how to fix the country and helped lay the groundwork for his entry into politics in 2021, when he tried to win the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Rob Portman.

Trump supported Vancewho won a crowded Republican primary and general election.

Personal chemistry with Donald Trump

Personal relationships are extremely important to the former president, and he and Vance They have developed a solid understanding over the years. They speak on the phone regularly.

Trump has also praised the beard of Vancesaying that “sees a young Abraham Lincoln”.

Vance He went from being totally opposed to Trump to a firm ally

In 2016, Vance He was a Republican.who would never support Trump”. He called Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for the position. Vancewhose wife, lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance, is an Indian-American and the mother of their three children, also criticized Trump’s racist rhetoric and said he could be “America’s Hitler.”

But when Vance met Trump by 2021, he had changed his mind and cited Trump’s accomplishments in the presidency. Both men downplayed Trump’s previous harsh criticism of Vance.

Once chosen, Vance became a staunch ally of Trump on Capitol Hill and relentlessly defended Trump’s policies and behavior.

He is a prominent conservative voice

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that Vance is a leading voice in the conservative movement on key issues, including free market economics, the “American culture as a whole“and distancing itself from interventionist foreign policy.

Democrats call him an extremist; they cite provocative positions that Vance has adopted, but has sometimes modified later. Vance She expressed support for a national ban on abortion during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy during her Senate bid, for example, and later softened that stance when Ohio voters overwhelmingly backed an abortion rights amendment in 2023.

Vance has adopted the rhetoric of Trump in relation to January 6, 2021

Regarding the 2020 election, he said that he would not have certified the results immediately if he had been vice president and that Trump had “a very legitimate grievance”. He has set conditions for honoring the results of the 2024 elections that echo those of Trump. A wide-ranging series of government and outside investigations have found no voter fraud that could have changed the outcome of Trump’s 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, an election that led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In the Senate, Vance sometimes embraces bipartisanship. He and Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown co-sponsored a rail safety bill following a train derailment and fire near the town of East Palestine, Ohio. He has sponsored legislation expanding and increasing funding for Great Lakes restoration, and supported bipartisan legislation boosting workers and families.

Vance can express Trump’s vision

People familiar with the process of vetting a vice presidential candidate said that Vance would bring to the Republican ticket his debating skills and the ability to articulate Trump’s vision.

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said that Vance makes a compelling case for an America-first worldview that could help Trump in states he narrowly lost in 2020, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, which share Ohio’s values, demographics and economics.