Former US President Donald Trump has announced Ohio Senator J.D. Vance will be his running mate in the 2024 Election.
The Republican Senator was speculated to be one of many choices being considered by President Trump ahead of his official announcement at the Republican National Convention this week – but still took some by surprise.
The 39-year-old was a former critic of President Trump – having once compared the then-president to Hitler – but changed his tune after receiving an endorsement for his Senate run in 2022.
Mr Vance is a best-selling author, Yale Law School graduate and had a tough childhood.
Who is J.D. Vance?
Born in Middletown, Ohio, J.D. was raised by his grandparents and has called his grandmother – affectionately known as ‘Mamaw’ – his ‘saving grace’.
J.D. enlisted in the US Marines in 2005 and went on to serve in the Iraq War, before returning home to attend Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
He worked in venture capital for years and went on to marry his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, whom he shares three children with.
In 2016, Mr Vance shot to stardom with his memoir entitled ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, documenting his life and reflecting on the hardships in rural Appalachia, where his grandparents were from.
The Appalachian region is one of the poorest in the United States.
Writing about the poverty he witnessed around him in the book, he said: ‘I want people to understand what happens in the life of the poor and the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children.
‘I want people to understand the American Dream as my family encountered it. I want people to understand how upward mobility really feels.
‘And I want people to understand something I learned only recently: that for those of us lucky enough to live the American Dream, the demons of the life we left behind continue to chase us.’
His book was turned into a movie in 2020, featuring Amy Adams, Glenn Close and Gabriel Basso.
Mr Vance then went on to run for a Senate seat in Ohio in 2022, which he won, with an endorsement from Trump.
A Trump critic turned Trump supporter
From 2015 onwards, Mr Vance was a staunch critic of President Trump, having once compared him to Hitler.
He wrote on X on separate occasions: ‘I’m a ‘never Trump’ guy. I never liked him.’ and ‘I find him reprehensible.’
He privately wrote in a Facebook message back in 2016: ‘I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.’
So what changed? Well, an endorsement from Trump in 2022 for his Senate run didn’t hurt.
In early 2021, Mr Vance downplayed the suggestion that President Trump’s supporters took part in the January 6 insurrection on the capitol.
In June, he told the New York Times of his change of heart on President Trump: ‘I allowed myself to focus so much on the stylistic element of Trump that I completely ignored the way in which he substantively was offering something very different on foreign policy, on trade, on immigration.
Mr Vance is also reportedly close with President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
What are JD Vance’s politics?
Mr Vance’s politics are overwhelmingly conservative – though he differs with his running mate on some issues.
Since joining the Senate in 2022, he’s been one of the biggest sceptics of aid to Ukraine as they continue to fight against Russia.
He said in a speech: ‘I certainly admire the Ukrainians who are fighting against Russia, but I do not think that it is in America’s interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine.’
Mr Vance is also anti-abortion, even in the case of incest or rape. He did say he supports it in cases when the mother’s life is in danger.
Mr Vance has also introduced bills to withhold federal funds for colleges where there have been encampments and protests against the war in Gaza.
He’s also a fierce advocate to cut off the Chinese government from US capital markets – if they don’t follow international trade law.
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