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Trump taps Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance to be his vice president
The “Hillbilly Elegy”author would be the youngest nominee for the bottom of the ticket since Richard Nixon.
By NATALIE ALLISON and BURGESS EVERETT 07/15/2024 03:19 PM EDT1/2
MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump has selected Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, elevating a staunch ally and young GOP star who, less than a decade ago, rose to prominence as a Trump critic.
But over the last few years, Vance, 39, has emerged as a Trump loyalist, becoming one of his most vocal defenders in the Senate and a frequent surrogate on television as he called for the party to embrace Trump’s populist agenda.
Trump announced his choice Monday afternoon on social media as the delegates to the GOP convention gathered in Milwaukee.
“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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.
By selecting Vance, Trump eschewed calls from some in the party to choose a running mate who would add racial diversity to the ticket or use softer rhetoric to appeal to Trump-skeptical moderates, instead tapping a firebrand who shares Trump’s pugilistic tendencies and is admired by the MAGA base.
But Vance could expand Trump’s appeal in other ways, however. He hails from the Rust Belt, which includes portions of the critical swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.He’s also a Marine veteran, and would be the second youngest vice president — tied with Richard Nixon— if Trump wins in November.
Vance “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,” Trump wrote.
But Vance’s past harsh criticisms of Trump, which he has vehemently walked back, will almost certainly be used against him by Democrats.
In his selection, Trump is elevating Vance as an heir to the MAGA movement. He is also putting an enormous amount of trust in the freshman senator, just days after an apparent assassination attempt on the former president served as a grim reminder of the significance of the vice president in any administration.
The author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a 2016 memoir-turned-movie about growing up poor in Appalachia, Vance during the 2016 presidential race served as an anti-Trump conservative pundit. He compared GOP voters’ newfound interest in Trump to a heroin addiction, privately speculated about whether Trump was “America’s Hitler,” referred to himself as a “Never Trump guy” and to Trump as “an idiot,” and declared after the 2016 election that he had not voted for Trump.
His own words were featured in GOP primary attack ads when Vance ran for Senate in 2022, though he ultimately broke through a crowded field of Republicans and secured Trump’s endorsement. He went on to win the seat held by former Sen. Rob Portman, a moderate Republican who retired.
Vance “brings to the table his ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), told POLITICO. “He has this story that the American people appreciate, that sometimes it’s hard to get by and it’s hard to put food on the table. And to have someone that’s vice president who’s lived that, who’s been successful and is now not only the vice president, but now all eyes are going to be him as potentially the next standard bearer of the Republican Party. That’s huge and it is literally the American dream.”…
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/15/trump-vice-president-jd-vance-00168277