On Monday, former President Donald Trump finally announced the long-anticipated selection for his vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election: Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
As the Daily Caller reports, President Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform in the early afternoon.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” said President Trump in his statement. “J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country. J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”
Vance’s political journey has been a fast rise that has included several crucial ideological shifts. He achieved political fame for his aforementioned 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which focused on the decline of the American working class due to outsourcing and the rise of drug abuse, as evidenced by his own impoverished upbringing in Ohio. It was widely cited as one of the most significant explanations for why so many disillusioned White working-class voters, who for years had either supported Democrats or had been apolitical, came out in droves for Donald Trump in 2016. The book was adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie in 2020.
After serving in the Marines and attending Ohio State University and Yale Law School, Vance worked as a venture capitalist before becoming the subject of political speculation ahead of the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Ohio. After ultimately deciding against running that year, he announced his campaign for the Senate in 2022. Despite initially polling as low as fourth or fifth place in a field of five major Republican primary candidates, Vance soon received the endorsement of former President Trump and instantly skyrocketed to frontrunner status, winning the nomination in a landslide before going on to win the general election against Democratic nominee Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).
Vance has faced some criticism for initially being anti-Trump in the 2016 election. But in recent years, Vance has shifted to being much more supportive of Trump, becoming known as one of Trump’s top allies in the U.S. Senate, and an outspoken nationalist on key issues such as immigration and foreign policy.
Senator Vance had ultimately become one of three finalists who made it to the short list for President Trump’s running mate this year, alongside fellow Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Governor Doug Burgum (R-N.D.). Some pointed out that President Trump’s announcement of his running mate choice fell on the eight-year anniversary of the day that he first announced his original running mate, former Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R-Ind.), in 2016.
If elected Vice President, Vance would become only the third-youngest Vice President in American history, at the age of 40; only Vice Presidents John Breckinridge (age 36) and Richard Nixon (age 40) were younger. Vance is also the first Marine Corps veteran to be nominated for Vice President, and the first member of the Millennial generation to be on the presidential ticket of a major party.