OAN Staff Taylor Tinsley
10:27 AM – Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Former President Donald Trump has officially picked Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate.
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Trump’s announcement came in a Truth Social post ahead of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday. He said Vance (R-Ohio) is the best person suited to assume the position “after considering the tremendous talents of many others.”
After the convention concluded its first day, Vance said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, James David Vance is a populist conservative big on immigration and foreign policy.
Vance was in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 and also served in the Iraq War.
He went on to graduate from Ohio University and Yale Law School, but didn’t come into the national spotlight until the release of his book Hillbilly Elegy, which was later picked up to be a Netflix film.
After witnessing an economic downturn in his hometown, noticing jobs and families slowly disappear, Vance officially stepped into the world of politics in 2021 when he decided to campaign for Ohio’s senate seat.
Vance beat his Democrat counterpart, Tim Ryan, in a 53% to 46% vote.
His campaign focused on America first policy, combating the drug and opioid epidemic, abortion, and immigration among other top issues.
At 39-years-old Vance is the youngest vice presidential nominee since President Eisenhower picked Richard Nixon as his running mate in 1952.
Vance notably has a history of criticizing the former president, calling Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible,” and even comparing him to Adolf Hitler in 2016. His rhetoric flipped in 2022, saying Trump was the “greatest president in my lifetime.”
If Trump and Vance win, the Ohio governor will have to name someone to fill Vance’s seat, which he was slated to hold until 2029.
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