JD Vance Officially Chosen as Trump’s Vice Presidential Candidate

Donald Trump has named former Republican and Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention (RNC) officially selected Vance, 39, on Monday after Trump announced on his social media platform that he had chosen him after “much deliberation and consideration.”

Mr. Vance is a Yale-educated venture capitalist and the author of the best-selling film Hillbilly Elegy.

He has previously criticized his new running mate, once privately suggesting that Trump might be “America’s Hitler,” but has since become a staunch supporter.

In the 2022 midterm elections, he won a seat in the U.S. Senate with Trump’s endorsement – his first time elected to public office.

After his confirmation as Trump’s running mate, Vance lashed out at Joe Biden, saying on Fox News that Americans elected an “empty vessel” in 2020 who is now “an incapable president.”

He claimed that Democrats had lied about Mr Biden’s health and that voters could “reward or punish that behavior” in November.

Mr Vance added that he had said “bad things” about Trump, but that it was important to admit he was wrong.

Originally from Ohio, Mr. Vance gained attention after the release of Hillbilly Elegy, which chronicles his working-class upbringing and how it affected his politics.

Trump said on the Truth Social platform that the book “stands up for the hardworking men and women of our country.”

“As Vice President, JD will continue to fight for our Constitution, support our troops, and do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he continued.

Mr. Vance was confirmed at the RNC, which is taking place this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

He entered the venue Monday accompanied by his wife, Usha, and greeted delegates as a country song played with the refrain “let’s build America first.”

Speaking to the crowd at the basketball arena where the event is taking place, Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno said, “For JD, America First is not just a slogan. It’s his North Star.”

“This is an incredible choice,” Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s son, said at the Republican convention. “This is truly a great choice.”

The choice was made before the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee on Monday, and two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

In the aftermath, Mr. Vance tweeted that the Democratic Party’s rhetoric had “led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”

Trump said he would soften his speech at the RNC and call for national unity.

Mr. Vance has become an increasingly prominent player in the world of Make America Great Again (MAGA) politics.

The choice suggests the former president knows this election will be won or lost in a handful of key Midwestern industrial states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

In the Senate, he was one of the biggest skeptics of aid to Ukraine.

In recent months, he has introduced bills to withhold federal funds from universities where students have protested the Gaza war or that employ undocumented immigrants.

In March, he sponsored a bill that would exclude the Chinese government from U.S. financial markets if it fails to comply with international trade law.

He also appeared frequently at Trump campaign events and traveled to New York to attend Trump’s fraud trial.

Mr. Vance, who was baptized as a Catholic in 2019, is opposed to abortion. He has supported Trump’s repeated assertion that the issue is a matter for states to decide.

He is one of the youngest vice presidential candidates in U.S. history.

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who attended the RNC, called Vance “a living embodiment of the American dream.”

“He came from a modest background and never forgot where he came from,” he said.

Mr. Vance and Trump will face Democratic candidates President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 general election.

In a brief statement to reporters on Monday, Mr. Biden criticized Mr. Vance, calling him “a Trump clone on these issues.”

Biden’s campaign said Trump chose Vance “because Vance will do what (Trump’s former Vice President) Mike Pence would not do … bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm it causes to the American people.”