Donald Trump Picks JD Vance As Vice Presidential Running Mate

Ted Johnson

15 July 2024 at 3:07 pm·5-min read

UPDATED: Donald Trump has selected Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential running mate.

Vance, first elected in 2022, rose to national prominence during Trump’s run for the White House in 2016, as his memoir Hillbilly Elegy became a national best-seller and he was called upon to explain the appeal of the Celebrity Apprentice host to the working class. He also was an Ivy League educated lawyer and Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

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Trump wrote on Truth Social, “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. 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.

Trump signaled that Vance would be focused on winning the midwestern “blue wall,” or the states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan that have, save for 2016, have been Democratic electoral strongholds.

“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 appeared on the convention floor this afternoon to the sounds of Merle Haggard’s America First, as his name was put into nomination and approved by acclamation.

Vance, 39, has moved from Trump detractor (he voted for Evan McMullin in 2016) to steadfast defender and even flame thrower. He is giving his first interview to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, to air this evening.

Vance has insisted that he was wrong about Trump once he entered the White House, and benefited from his endorsement in the 2022 race an open Ohio U.S. Senate seat.

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, Vance blamed it on the Biden campaign.

He wrote, “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

In the lead up to the announcement, as speculation was rampant that Vance would be the pick, CNN’s Van Jones said, “This is not a kumbaya pick.”

Vance is a former CNN commentator, a role in which he shed light on Trump’s rise, even if it wasn’t flattering.

Vance’s selection is despite some lobbying for a move conventional pick, like North Carolina Governor Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Rupert Murdoch reportedly had been urging Trump to pick Burgum, who ran for the GOP nomination, while Rubio has been in the spotlight for more than a decade. But Rubio also raised some complications because of a clause in the Constitution that suggests the presidential and vice presidential picks cannot come from the same state.

After the Vance pick was announced, network pundits focused in part on his age and surmised that Trump was mindful to ensuring his legacy lasts beyond another term. Erick Erickson wrote on X, “A J.D. Vance nomination is not about picking up voters. He gives intellectual voice to MAGA.”

Hillbilly Elegy told of the decline of the white working class, and when it was published in the summer of 2016, it was held up by conservatives and liberals as shedding light on why such a large segment of the population felt alienated from society as his family history was one of struggle in a legacy of abuse, alcoholism and poverty. Ron Howard adapted the book for a 2020 Netflix movie.

Vance has been a Trump loyalist, backing the former president’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen. But coverage of Vance today has also focused on what he had once said about Trump, having referred to him as a “cynical asshole” and “America’s Hitler.”

In the vice presidential sweepstakes, Vance has appeared in numerous interviews, a telegenic personality that is viewed as a big plus for Trump.

That includes a recent Face the Nation appearance in which he expressed support for some of the policies of Hungarian authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. He also has opposed additional aid to Ukraine.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chair of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, said in a statement, “Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law no matter the harm to the American people.”

Biden himself was asked about the Vance pick, telling White House reporters that he was “a clone of Trump on the issues. I don’t see any difference.”

Vance’s pick also exposed some friction among Trump’s loyalists. After Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) posted on his support for Vance, Tucker Carlson wrote, “Lindsey Graham is a liar. No one lobbied harder against JD Vance than he did, and in the sleaziest, most vicious way. He was doing it this morning. This is why everyone hates Washington, because people like Lindsey Graham are happy to lie right to your face, smiling as they plot your destruction. It’s disgusting.” Carlson is due to speak on Thursday night.

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