Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance, a junior senator from Ohio and author of a best-selling memoir about his experiences growing up in rural poverty, as his running mate in an effort to win over blue-collar voters in industrial Midwestern battleground states.
Trump announced the appointment of Vance, an ideologue of the former president's MAGA movement, on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, just two days after the gunman attempted assassination.
Hours later, Trump and Vance appeared together at the convention, Trump's first public appearance since the weekend shooting. Trump was shot at a rally on Saturday and had a gauze bandage on his ear.
Trump entered the venue to a standing ovation and a live rendition of his campaign song, “God Bless the USA.” He did not speak, but waved his hands and pumped his fists as the crowd chanted “USA” and “fight!”
The selection of Vance as his running mate ended months of speculation and solidified the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee less than four months before the November election. Trump is leading Democratic rival President-elect Joe Biden in most national and battleground state polls.
Trump's decision marks a rapid promotion for the 39-year-old Vance, who was first elected to the Senate just two years ago.
Trump confirmed his selection of Vance in a post on his platform, Truth Social, on Monday afternoon, saying he made the choice “after long thought and consideration, and after taking into account many other incredible talents.”
Vance, who once described Trump as an “idiot” and said he was “a guy who would never support Trump,” has been one of the former president's most staunch supporters in recent years and one of his most fluent and combative during the campaign.
“A central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote in an X post after Saturday's shooting, adding that “this statement led directly to the assassination attempt on President Trump.”
In an interview with Fox News on Monday night, Vance defended his past comments criticizing Trump, saying he made a “mistake” and was “wrong.”
“I was skeptical of Donald Trump back in 2016,” Vance said, “but President Trump has been a great president and he's changed my mind. I think he's changed the minds of a lot of Americans.”
Vance first gained national recognition in 2016 with the publication Hillbilly Elegyis a memoir about growing up in a white working-class America surrounded by drug abuse. A Marine Corps veteran and Yale Law School graduate, he worked in venture capital before moving into politics.
Shortly after Trump's announcement, Biden called for donations to his campaign, posting on X: “This is about JD Vance. He talks big about the working class. But now he and Trump are pushing for higher taxes on middle class families and more tax cuts for the wealthy.”
Biden later told reporters that Vance was a “Trump clone on issues” and that he “sees no difference” between the former president and his running mate.
A Biden campaign official confirmed that Vice President Kamala Harris left a message congratulating Vance on his selection and inviting him to participate in the vice presidential debate, scheduled for August 13, reported CBS News.
Trump suggested Vance's record would help him appeal to voters in the industrial Midwest, saying in a social media post that his running mate would “have a strong focus on the people he fought so well for – the American workers and farmers of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and beyond.”
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are seen as must-win battleground states for Trump to secure another four years as president.
Within minutes of Trump's post, his campaign released a 60-second ad featuring the Ohio senator and branding that read “Trump Vance 2024.”
Vance's populist politics have won him praise from Republicans and President Trump, but he has also antagonized more traditional members of his party, who resent his isolationist foreign policy — he has long opposed increased U.S. aid to Ukraine — and his support for a higher minimum wage, trade protectionism and more aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws.
Republican consultant Ken Spain said Vance “proudly represents the emerging blue-collar wing of the Republican Party.” [party] “He's a business skeptic,” he said, adding, “He's not a counterweight to Trump's 'balancing' power. He's a leading candidate to be the next president.”
Vance will be the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history, just a few months older than Richard Nixon, who served as vice president under Dwight Eisenhower.
Trump delayed the announcement until the very last possible moment, calling the process ” apprentice” is a reality TV series that he previously worked on.
President Trump has had a falling out with former Vice President Mike Pence following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which a mob of the then-president's supporters threatened Pence's decision to certify Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Kahn in New York and Alex Rogers in Washington
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