Recap: JD Vance delivers first speech as Trump’s running mate

The third day of the Republican National Convention has officially concluded.

Check back tomorrow to follow The Hill’s live coverage of Day 4.

AJ Yvette, a Texas delegate, is bringing a stack of Trump signs back to Dallas to give out to Republicans at home.

She was compiling the signs minutes after day 3 of the convention ended.

“I’m gonna take this back to the Dallas County Republican headquarters,” Yvette said. “I’ve had some voters that have been asking for Trump signs, and so I’m gonna take them these signs.”

— Mychael Schnell

Iowa delegate Deborah Yanna lauded Vance’s speech Wednesday night, arguing that his remarks were representative of the American dream.“Loved it,” she said of the speech. “I liked all of it. He’s America First… he did the American dream.”

“It’s America,” she added.

— Mychael Schnell

As Vance ended his speech, the house band began playing “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac.

The song was famously used by former President Bill Clinton as the official song of his 1992 campaign.

— Brett Samuels

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Wednesday night officially accepted the vice presidential nomination, using his speech to the Republican National Convention to lean into his history and decry policies he said have harmed “forgotten communities” across the country.

Vance, who former President Trump named his running mate on Monday, used the biggest moment of his political career to weave together his unique background — born in the poor reaches of Appalachia and eventually becoming a Marine, a venture capitalist and an Ohio senator — with policies he said have done undue harm to the U.S.

Bad trade deals, “disastrous” foreign wars and a drug epidemic headlined the list, with Vance taking the opportunity to draw a contrast between Trump and President Biden on each issue.

“And at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Vance said.

“Somehow, a real estate developer from New York by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues while Biden was wrong,” he said. “President Trump knew, even then, that we needed leaders who would put America first.” 

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Al Weaver

Closing out his remarks as the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, Vance vowed he would “never forget where he came from.”

“I promise you one more thing to the people of Middletown Ohio and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” Vance, who became famous for his memoir focused on working-class white America, said.

— Caroline Vakil

The Biden campaign quickly hammered Vance following his speech, calling him “unprepared, unqualified, and willing to do anything Donald Trump demands.”

“Tonight, J.D. Vance, the poster boy for Project 2025, took center stage. But it’s working families and the middle class who will suffer if he’s allowed to stay there,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.

— Brett Samuels

A delegate is spotted live-streaming Vance’s speech as he watches from the RNC floor.

— Mychael Schnell

Vance shared a story about his grandmother that drew loud applause from the audience.

“My Mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005, and when we went through her things we found 19 loaded handguns,” Vance said, prompting cheers and chants of “Mamaw.”

“Now, the thing is, they were stashed all over her house … This frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family,” Vance said as the crowd cheered.

— Julia Mueller

Vance is telling lots of stories about his family, including his mother and grandmother, during his remarks — and the RNC crowd is raucous and responsive.

“You guys are a great crowd,” Vance praised the audience, prompting chants of “yes we are.”

When he pointed attention to his mother in attendance, the crowd also began to call “JD’s mom.”

“I love his family already, oh my goodness,” a delegate from Pennsylvania says out loud as she listens to Vance’s speech.

— Julia Mueller and Mychael Schnell

Vance praised his mother, Beverly, who was attending the Republican National Convention, and lauding her for being “clean and sober” for 10 years. Vance proposed they celebrate her 10-year mark of sobriety in the White House in January.

— Caroline Vakil

A delegate from Pennsylvania, a critical swing state, is watching Vance closely as he delivers his first speech as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee.

“I think he’s exceptional,” she told The Hill.

— Mychael Schnell

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), a graduate of Ohio State University light-heartedly tangled with Michigan delegates during his speech, as the long-running collegiate rivalry came to the surface.

Vance, an OSU graduate, told the crowd he went to “THE Ohio State University,” a trademark of the school.

“I’m sorry Michigan, I had to get it in there,” Vance said.

“Let’s go blue” chants came from the Michigan section of the RNC floor.

He added jokingly at one point, “Come on, come on. We’ve had enough political violence.”

— Mychael Schnell

Chants of “Joe must go” are filling up the convention center as Vance discusses President Biden’s foreign policy decisions.

“I agree,” Vance tells the crowd.

— Mychael Schnell

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) formally accepted the nomination to be Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate during the keynote address at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

“Tonight, Mr. Chairman, I stand here humbly, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to say I officially accept your nomination to be Vice President of the United States of America,” Vance said.

He lauded Trump during his speech, calling him “tough” and saying that he “cares about people.”

He also leaned into Trump’s call for unity, saying “my message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win.”

“I think our disagreements actually make us stronger,” he added.

– Caroline Vakil

In his debut speech as Trump’s running mate, JD Vance hailed Trump’s raised-fist moment after an assassination attempt at his rally, where a bullet grazed the former president’s ear.

“Look at that photo of him, defiant, fist in the air. When Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him. And what did he call us to do for our country? To fight. To fight for America,” Vance said of Trump’s move to raise his fist and encourage his rally attendees to “fight.”

“Even in his most perilous moment, we were on his mind. His instinct was for us … to call us to something higher,” Vance said.

— Julia Mueller

Usha Vance introduced her husband at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday saying, she wanted to “explain from the heart” why JD Vance should be the next President of the United States.

She said that they met in law school, and he was “the most interesting person I knew.”

“A working-class guy who had overcome childhood traumas that I can barely Fathom.”

She also addressed her background, sharing that she grew up in San Diego, in a middle-class community to parents who emigrated from India.

She added that “he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm. He wanted to know everything about where I came from, what my life has been like.”

“Although he’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food for my mother.”

She shared that both of them didn’t expect to find ourselves in this position.

— Sarakshi Rai

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) took the stage to applause from the crowd to give the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, just two days after being formally chosen as Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick.

— Caroline Vakil

Trump aide Walt Nauta was spotted in former President Trump’s suite at the RNC Wednesday night.

Trump and Nauta’s charges were recently dismissed. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.

— Mychael Schnell

Jim Brennan, an Ohio delegate, said he’s excited about Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) being on the GOP ticket and excepts the Buckeye State senator to explain how “he’s gonna kick some ass.”

“We love him,” Brennan said. “He’s just gonna tell us how he’s gonna kick some ass.”

— Mychael Schnell

A video show Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) aggressively confronting the head of the Secret Service at the Republican National Convention, just days after the assassination attempt against former President Trump put the agency under intense scrutiny.

“This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers,” Blackburn can be heard saying in the clip shared on X, in which she and her fellow senator appear to be following Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle through the halls of the convention in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Read more here.

— Julia Mueller

The former president’s son questioned whether President Biden was the one making decisions at the White House.

“Honestly, who is actually running the country anyway?” he asked the crowd.

“It’s obviously not Joe Biden. So who are they asking us to elect? Seriously, who’s running things? Does anyone really know? Is it Jill? Is it Hunter? Barack Obama? Maybe it’s the ghost of Corn Pop,” he said, referencing a story Biden has told about his time running for office in Delaware years ago.

— Brett Samuels

Iowa delegate Fred Grunder says that Trump’s granddaughter’s speech showed that he is “just a person”.

“After his granddaughter got done, and he stood up. He’s got such a smile on his face like a parent would have been so proud of one of their children. You know, he just isn’t how everybody portrays him,” he told The Hill.

He added that he met the president at a rally previously where Trump didn’t talk about himself but instead asked him questions about his life.

“ It was at a rally where I got to meet him backstage. And I even asked him, I said, Hey, you know, I love what you do on stage. I said, if you’d show the people some of what you just showed me, I think everybody both sides vote for Americans. But Donald Trump is who Donald Trump is.”

— Sarakshi Rai

The former president’s eldest son spoke at length about the assassination attempt during Saturday’s rally in Pennsylvania.

“Just days ago, something that once seemed unimaginable became a terrifying reality. My father came under literal fire as an incredible patriotic rally turned into a tragedy,” he said.

“They say you can’t truly knowhow you’ll respond in a moment of danger until you’re actually confronted with it. So what was my father’s instinct as his life was on the line?” he continued. “Not to cower, not to surrender, but to show for all the world to see that the next American president as the heart of a lion.”

— Brett Samuels

Harvard University graduate Shabbos Kestenbaum addressed the RNC on Wednesday, arguing that Democrats have “abandoned” Jews and Americans — comments that come as higher institutions have received growing scrutiny over their response to antisemitism on campus.

“Perhaps most damning,” said Kestenbaum, who is suing Harvard over its response to antisemitism, “when Hamas terrorists butchered 45 American citizens on Oct. 7, when they took 12 Americans hostage, Harvard refused to immediately and unequivocally condemn this atrocity.”

“My fellow Americans, the anti-semitic bigotry unfortunately extends far beyond the universities,” he continued. “Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far left has not only abandoned the Jewish people, but the American people,” he continued.

— Caroline Vakil

Trump looked to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum after his granddaughter’s speech and said,“she’s good.”

— Sarakshi Rai

Donald Trump Jr. came out to speak and quickly ceded the stage to his 17-year-old daughter, Kai Madison Trump, who he said wanted to speak.

“I’m speaking today to share the side of my grandpa that people don’t often see. To me, he’s just a normal grandpa,” Kai Trump said. “He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking. He always wants to know how we’re doing in school.”

Cameras showed Trump smiling as he watched.

“Even when he’s going through all these court cases, he always asks me how I’m doing,” she said, calling the former president “an inspiration.”

— Brett Samuels

Ed Cox, the chairman of the New York state Republican Party, is predicting that Trump will win the Empire State in November.

“Yes,” he told The Hill when asked if Trump will win New York this year. “I believe that this is like 1980.”

“Close win in New York, but a huge win nationally, we can carry New York,” he later added.

Trump has been bullish about his chances of winning New York in November. He held a rally in the Bronx in May.

— Mychael Schnell

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) argued that President Biden had exercised bad judgement “even in his prime” and now especially cannot be trusted to make tough decisions.

Zeldin, who was the GOP nominee for governor of New York in 2022, noted that Biden had advised against the 2011 operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

“As an American and especially as a New Yorker, that’s unforgivable,” he said. “Even in his prime, he had bad judgement, and it’s only gotten worse with age.”

Zeldin also went after the Biden administration over the withdrawal from Afghanistan and accused him of “pander[ing]” to antisemites who defended Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which included Americans being killed and taken hostage.

“We cannot count on Biden to make this kind of crucial 3 a.m. decision. We can’t rely on him at 3 in the afternoon,” he added.

— Jared Gans

Trump is on his feet as the 98-year-old WWII veteran takes the stage.

— Sarakshi Rai