Search Articles
MILWAUKEE (CN) — Ohio Senator J.D. Vance will join former President Donald Trump on the Republican ticket for November’s presidential election.
The former president made the announcement on Truth Social less than an hour before the Republican National Committee was expected to nominate his running mate during their presidential convention Monday.
Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for,” Trump wrote, “the American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and far beyond.”
The first-term senator from Ohio beat out several others angling to join the former president on the ticket, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Burgum said on X that Vance’s “small town roots and service to country” make him a strong candidate.
President Joe Biden said on social media that Vance “talked a big game about working people,” but wanted to raise taxes on the middle class while cutting them for the rich.
Vance, 39, rose to fame in 2016 following the publication of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling memoir about growing up poor in Middleton, Ohio. The Yale Law School graduate and venture capitalist was elected to the Senate in 2022 with the help of Trump’s endorsement.
Vance was an outspoken opponent of Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries, however. In anopinion piece for USA Today, he acknowledged Trump’s populist appeal but said the New York businessman’s policies range from “immoral to absurd.” He told Charlie Rose in a 2016 interview he was a “Never Trump guy.”
Vance reversed course as his political ambitions grew. He endorsed Trump in the 2020 election and told Fox News he regretted his past criticisms of the former president.
Vance opposes aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia but supports Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The senator has advocated for a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, imposing tariffs on China and antitrust enforcement of tech companies.
In May, Vance attended Trump’s New York trial, where he accused prosecutors of being “Democratic political operatives.”
Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance. They have three children.
Follow @BenjaminSWeissSubscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.