Former President Donald Trump Selected Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio will be nominated as his running mate in the November presidential election. Trump announced his running mate on social media just before the election. Accept the presidential nomination Monday in Milwaukee.
“After lengthy deliberation and consideration, and after taking into account many other extraordinary talents, I have determined that the person best qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio,” Trump wrote.
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“He served his country honorably in the Marine Corps, graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State University in his second year and graduated from Yale Law School, where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal and president of the Yale Law Veterans Association,” the letter said of Vance.
The former president noted that Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy” was a best-seller that “championed the hardworking men and women of our country” and that Vance was previously a venture capitalist.
At just 39, Vance is half Trump’s age and one of the youngest candidates to be nominated for vice president. He is also a first-term senator, having served only a year and a half in the Senate, making him a political novice.
Before Vance’s selection was announced, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who were also considered second-place candidates, were informed they had not been selected, according to sources. After Vance’s selection was announced, Gov. Burgum wrote in a social media post that “As a small-town native and dedicated to his country, Vance is a strong voice for America First.”
Vance was not at the Pennsylvania rally where the shooter was present. Tried Speaking about the former president’s life, the senator expressed concern and support for the president from Ohio, and also shared information about fundraising efforts for the families of those killed and injured at the rally.
“Brave. United. Rebellious. That’s leadership,” Vance wrote to X over the weekend, after President Trump called on Americans to keep the faith and remain rebellious in the face of evil.
The Trump campaign released a campaign video featuring Vance campaigning with Trump and footage of his television appearances, and included the Trump-Vance campaign logo at the end.
Vance has frequently accompanied Trump on election campaign tours and has long been To the finalists of Vice Presidential CandidateVance and his wife, Usha, were spotted leaving their Ohio home on Monday morning, a sign that Vance may be selected.
Ohio has been a reliably Republican state in recent elections — state Sen. Sherrod Brown is a Democrat running for reelection this year — but Trump is placing more importance on the qualities he values most in a candidate than on picking a running mate from a key battleground state.
Trump has made it a priority to choose a running mate who is loyal to him and publicly supports him, a trend that Vance has increasingly adopted in recent years.
However, Vance was initially a vocal critic of Trump and an outspoken “anti-Trump” ally. Earlier this year, Fox News’ Bette Beyer criticized Vance for some of his past comments, including that Trump could become an “American Hitler” and a “cultural heroine.” Vance told Beyer that he was “wrong” about Trump.
“When you’re wrong about something, I think you should change your mind and be honest with people about that fact,” Vance said in an interview.
Vance grew up in a difficult environment and was raised primarily by his grandparents before going to college and law school at Yale University.
Vance, now one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, is facing charges both during his criminal trial in Manhattan and Convicted of 34 felonies He is accused of falsifying business records regarding the payment of “hush money.”
“The purpose of this trial was to enable the media and Democrats to say just that,” Vance told CNN after the New York verdict. “This was never about justice, it was about putting the words ‘convicted felon’ across the radio airwaves. In fact, Donald Trump is guilty only of being in a courtroom in a political sham trial.”
asked in an interview in June. “Face the Nation” Regarding his interest in the vice presidency and his relatively short experience as a senator, Vance said, “In those 18 months, we’ve done a lot of good work for our constituents.”
Vance takes a different stance from Mike Pence, who served as vice president during Trump’s first two presidential nominations, and has said in the past that if he were in Pence’s shoes, he would have refused to certify the January 6, 2020 election.
“If I was vice president, I would have told Pennsylvania, Georgia and many other states that they needed to have multiple electors,” Trump told ABC News in early February, “and I think the United States Congress should have taken the debate from there. I think that a lot of people, myself included, think there were a lot of problems with the 2020 election, and that’s the right thing to do. I think that’s what we should have done.”
In 2020, President Trump pressured Pence, who presided over the joint session of Congress that certified the results of the presidential election, to refuse to certify the electoral votes that showed Joe Biden’s victory. Pence disagreed, concluding that his role was ceremonial, and eventually announced Biden’s victory after the storming of the Capitol that day. Since then, President Trump has continued to publicly claim that Pence “had the right to change the outcome.”
The vice president’s job is to read the election results from each state in accordance with the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The other law governing the certification of votes, the Electoral Count Act of 1877, also does not give the vice president the power to overturn the results. Many legal experts have denied that an interpretation of those laws would give Pence the power to reject the results of the January 6 election.
Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.
