On Monday, former President Donald Trump picked author and Ohio junior senator JD Vance as his 2024 running mate. With that decision, Mr. Trump selected a critic-become-ally. Vance is now the first Millennial to join a major-party presidential ticket. The choice comes as concern about the advanced age of America’s top politicians peaks.
Former President Trump said on social media that he thought long and hard about his choice. Eventually, he selected bestselling author JD Vance as the person “best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States.”
Vance served in the Marine Corps in Iraq. He later graduated from Yale Law School and practiced law for several years before becoming an investor. He is probably best known for writing a bestselling book, the 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
In 2022, Vance became an Ohio senator. He has shown some willingness to work across the aisle. He and Ohio’s senior senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, have teamed up on several state issues.
Vance has also become a staunch champion of the former president’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. Vance especially agrees with Mr. Trump on trade, foreign policy, and immigration. Analysts say the VP pick will likely energize Mr. Trump’s loyal base.
As Vance accepted the nomination on Monday, “America First” played. The song promotes helping America before the rest of the world.
WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta is reporting from the convention. She called yesterday’s mood “very jubilant” and says “everyone’s a huge fan of JD Vance.” But she acknowledges that most attendees also say they would’ve supported anyone former President Trump selected.
One delegate from Louisiana told WORLD he thought Vance would make a great vice president. The delegate acknowledged that the Ohio senator used to be a Trump critic—but said people could change their minds. Another delegate from California says he likes Vance’s support for some values and policies similar to those held by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Still, Vance is largely untested in national politics. He’s joining the Trump ticket at an extraordinary moment in American history. The attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally Saturday brought new attention to the nation’s unstable political rhetoric. Lumetta says the shooting “looms large” at the convention.
Vance faced criticism in the wake of the shooting for a post on X. It suggested President Joe Biden was to blame for the violence.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Both sides have struggled with harsh, overblown, or inaccurate remarks. Unkindness, dishonesty, anger—too often political speeches are full of these bad qualities. Yet each of them (and each of us!) “will give account for every careless word.” (Matthew 12:36)
Whatever misgivings Vance may have once had about former President Trump, the new VP candidate has come full circle. “I didn’t think he was going to be a good president,” Vance recently told Fox News Channel. “He was a great president. And it’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to make sure he gets a second term.”
