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. 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 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 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, 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.”
