Trump picks JD Vance for VP: 5 things to know

Former President Trump capped off months of speculation over his vice-presidential pick on Monday, formally choosing Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate. 

The former president selected Vance as the GOP vice presidential nominee on the first day of the Republican National Convention. The Ohio Republican was widely seen as one of three final contenders in the running. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum were also considered in the mix. 

Though Vance is a staunch ally of the former president, the Ohio GOP senator’s relationship with Trump has been complicated. 

Here’s five things to know about Trump’s 2024 vice presidential pick: 

He’s an ardent Trump supporter

Vance is one of the former president’s most prominent supporters on Capitol Hill, advocating for Trump and his policies in the Senate.

In February, he called on Republicans to vote against a foreign aid package that included money for Israel and Ukraine, arguing at the time that “buried in the bill’s text is an impeachment time bomb for the next Trump presidency if he tries to stop funding the war in Ukraine.” 

Vance asked Attorney General Merrick Garland in May to look into the constitutionality of Trump’s gag order in the New York hush money probe. 

He’s also been an effective surrogate during media appearances, including on the Sunday show circuit. During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week, he said he would accept the results of the 2024 election as long as it was “free and fair.”

“So long as it’s a free and fair election … of course we will,” he said. “We will use constitutional processes to challenge issues if we think there are issues. But if it’s a free and fair election, we will do what the Constitution requires. We will respect the results. And I expect those results are going to be to reelect Donald Trump.”

But he used to be a critic

But Vance was not always a Trump supporter, previously calling the former president an “idiot” and “noxious.”

“Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us. When we apologize for this man, lord help us,” the Ohio GOP senator posted on social media in 2016 amid revelations about Trump’s notorious “Access Hollywood” tape. 

In a piece for The Atlantic that same year, Vance wrote scathingly of the former president, calling him “cultural heroin.”

“He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it,” he wrote. 

He’s also described Trump as a “cynical asshole” and “America’s Hitler.”

Many of those past remarks came to haunt the Ohio GOP senator, particularly during his 2022 Senate run. Vance has apologized for his previous remarks and said he was “wrong” about the former president. 

“I have been very clear on this … look, I was wrong about him. I didn’t think he was going to be a good president … and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected,” Vance said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in May when asked about previous comments regarding Trump. 

He’s a bestselling writer

Vance rose to prominence after writing his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was published in 2016. The book reflects on his years growing up in Ohio, touching on working-class white America where issues like poverty and alcoholism hit close to home while managing to create a future for himself, including attending Yale Law School.

It became popular reading for political observers seeking to understand the rise of Trump in 2016.

“I think it speaks to a couple of things: First, that people are really curious about the anger and frustration of the white working class; second, that members of the white working class have been hungry to have someone tell their story,” Vance told The Wall Street Journal in an interview in 2016, regarding his book’s reception.

It became a New York Times bestseller and was later adapted into a movie in 2020. 

He would be one of the youngest vice presidents to win

If the Trump-Vance ticket wins in November, Vance would be one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history. Vance, who turns 40 in August, would also be the first Millennial to be vice president. 

Former Vice President John C. Breckinridge was 36 years old when he became the vice president in 1857. Former President Nixon was 40 years old when he assumed the vice presidency in 1953. His birthday is earlier than Vance’s. 

He represents the isolationist faction of the GOP wing

The Ohio GOP senator’s views on foreign policy represent the isolationist faction of the Republican Party, which the issue of the Russian invasion in Ukraine has highlighted. 

“The White House has said time and again that it can’t negotiate with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. This is absurd,” Vance wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times in April. “The Biden administration has no viable plan for the Ukrainians to win this war. The sooner Americans confront this truth, the sooner we can fix this mess and broker for peace.”

The GOP senator has expressed opposition to aid for Ukraine, writing in his op-ed that the president “has failed to articulate even basic facts about what Ukraine needs and how this aid will change the reality on the ground.”

Those views have at times frustrated some of his Republican colleagues, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a supporter of Ukraine, demonstrating a fissure within the party over how to handle foreign conflicts. 

His position on abortion has evolved

Vance has previously supported federal restrictions on abortion access, including supporting restrictions after 15 weeks while running for Senate in 2022. 

However, Vance has mirrored Trump’s more recent rhetoric on the issue, in which Trump has said that abortion access should be left to the states.

“Donald Trump is the pragmatic leader here,” Vance said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week, speaking about the issue of abortion and abortion medication. 

“He’s saying most abortion policy is going to be decided by the states. We want to make it easier and more affordable for young women and parents to have families to begin with. We want to lower housing costs, eliminate the surprise medical bills that so many families see after they have a baby. That’s the Trump and Republican approach to this issue.”