It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy.

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Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.

Hello from Milwaukee, where night two of the Republican National Convention is beginning and political headlines abound. There’s plenty of ways to join our gavel-to-gavel coverage -- more on that below -- including sending your questions directly ([link removed]) to our nightly live post-convention show. You can find that on our YouTube ([link removed]) nightly at 11 p.m. EDT.

WHO IS JD VANCE?
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews ([link removed])
Correspondent

By Erica R, Hendry,
Senior managing editor, digital
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WATCH: Lisa Desjardins reports on the newest member of the Trump ticket from the floor of the RNC.

It was a long-awaited finale to Donald Trump’s veepstakes: The former president announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate Monday afternoon as the Republican National Convention began.

In a week full of historic moments, this was another. Vance was the first vice presidential nominee announced on the convention floor since 1980.

When the formal announcement came, to clapping and cheers from the crowd, Vance was in the convention center in Milwaukee, his hand on his heart as his wife stood beside him.

Here’s what you need to know about Vance.

Vance is the first millennial to be nominated to a major party ticket. At 39, he’s the second youngest member of the U.S. Senate, and the youngest presidential running mate we’ve seen since Richard Nixon was on the ticket with Dwight Eisenhower.

A veteran, and a businessman. Along with his military service, Vance’s experience at a venture capital firm likely caught Trump’s eye.

He’s relatively new to politics — something that was appealing to the Trump campaign. Vance has some experience, but not too much. He was elected to one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats in 2022; he’s about a year and a half into his first term.

He was once a Trump critic. Travel back to 2016 and you’ll find Vance new to fame thanks to his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and open about his status as a never-Trumper. At the time, he told the News Hour’s Judy Woodruff that Trump was going to make things worse. ([link removed]) Elsewhere, he referred to the then-candidate with a host of derogatory nicknames, including “America’s Hitler.” Since then, his views and position on Trump have changed. “I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president and he changed my mind. I think he changed the minds of a lot of Americans," Vance told Fox News.

(For the deep-dive crowd: This piece from our partners ([link removed]) at PolitiFact on Vance’s past statements and relationship with Trump is worth reading.) Deema Zein also had a chat with Katie Sanders, the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, to sort through claims ([link removed]) made on the floor on the convention's first night.

Where does he stand on the issues? Vance and Trump are particularly aligned on the economy and protectionist trade policies. Trump has said that abortion policy should largely be left to the states, while Vance’s anti-abortion views until recently have been more restrictive, including opposing exceptions for rape and incest. They have both repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, pointing to unfounded claims of voter fraud.

What does he add to the ticket? We asked Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ([link removed]) , who said he first met Vance after the release of his book in 2016.

“While he may not have long political experience, I think he will be able to relate to the mom who doesn't have enough food for her kids, the family that's got someone in their family who has a mental health problem or has a drug problem. These are things that, because of his life experiences — and I think that will come out during the campaign and people will start to really — from a national point of view, start to understand that.”

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What to watch the rest of the week
* Haley supports her formal rival. The former South Carolina governor and one-time Republican presidential candidate is expected to speak Tuesday night in support of Trump. Watch here ([link removed])
* Vance at the mic. Wednesday is his first chance to speak directly to Republican delegates about his vision and what he hopes to bring to the ticket Watch here ([link removed])
* Trump accepts the nomination. For Thursday’s closing festivities, Trump will speak for the first time as the party’s official 2024 nominee. Some Republican leaders have been stressing the need to cool the most inflammatory political rhetoric in the name of unity and a peaceful election. Delegates have told us ([link removed]) they’re seeking this kind of message and reassurance from Trump, too. Along with sharing his vision for the party and the challenges ahead for November, what Trump says – and how he says it –after surviving an assassination attempt will have enormous power in determining whether political temperatures and violence heat up. Watch here ([link removed])

You can watch our PBS News special on RNC Night 2 ([link removed]) , Tuesday night starting at 8 p.m. EDT, or watch our direct feed of the convention floor ([link removed]) , which starts at 6 p.m. EDT. And remember to come back for more later this week:

Watch Wednesday, RNC Night 3 ([link removed])
Watch Thursday, RNC Night 4 ([link removed])
#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Matt Loffman, @mattloff ([link removed])
Politics Producer

By Erica R. Hendry
Senior managing editor, digital

Party convention pageantry comes with a hefty price tag. This year’s Republican National Convention host committee said it raised a record amount for this year’s event.

Our question: What is the total dollar amount raised for this year’s RNC? Price Is Right rules apply here — closest without going over wins.

Last night, we asked: Only one of the descriptive words in the RNC nightly themes is recycled from the 2016 convention when Trump was first nominated. Which word is it?

The answer: Safe — also the theme for this evening.
Congratulations to our winner: Brenda Radford

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
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