Trump selects Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a once-fierce critic turned loyal ally, as his GOP vice presidential candidate

MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump I chose Senator J.D. Vance on Monday selected an Ohio state representative as his vice presidential candidate, choosing a former critic who has become a staunch ally and is now the first millennial to join a major party’s ticket at a time of deep concern about the advancing age of America’s political leaders.

“After much consideration and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have determined that the person best qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social social network as the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee.

Hours later, Vance formally accepted his party’s nomination, entering the convention hall to the sounds of Merle Haggard’s “American First” speech.

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Vance, 39, rose to national fame after publishing his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” in 2016. He was elected to the Senate in 2022 and has become one of the former president’s staunchest supporters of his “Make America Great Again” agenda, particularly on trade, foreign policy and immigration.

But he is largely untested in domestic politics and joins Trump’s ticket at an extraordinary moment in American history. assassination attempt Trump’s speech at a rally Saturday sent shockwaves through the campaign, drawing attention to the country’s crass political rhetoric and emphasizing those who are just a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Vance himself faced criticism after the shooting for a tweet suggesting that President Joe Biden was to blame for the violence.

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that the president Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “This rhetoric led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”

Law enforcement has not yet released a specific reason for the shooting.

Why Vance was chosen over other finalists

The election is sure to energize Trump’s loyal base. Vance has become a fixture on the conservative media circuit, often clashing with reporters on Capitol Hill, which has helped cement his position as a leader who could carry Trump’s mantle into the future, starting with the next presidential election in 2028.

But the pick also means that two white men will now lead the Republican Party at a time when Trump is trying to win over black and Latino voters.

In his post announcing his selection, Trump said Vance “will be fiercely focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American workers and farmers of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and far beyond.” Several of those Midwestern states are expected to play key roles in the November election.

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But Vance had another advantage: chemistry with Trump. Personal relationships are incredibly crucial to the former president, and he and Vance developed a sturdy rapport, speaking regularly on the phone.

Trump also praised Vance’s appearance, saying he reminded him of “a young Abraham Lincoln.”

Trump and Vance spoke about 20 minutes before the Truth Social post, and Trump formally offered Vance the job, according to a person familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified.

Trump has long said he wants to dramatically reveal his candidate on stage Conventionwhich he said would make it more “interesting” and “exciting.” The timing is later than in recent cycles, but it’s not unprecedented. In 1980, Ronald Reagan made his decision less than 24 hours before formally accepting the GOP nomination, and George H. W. Bush waited until his 1988 convention.

Biden’s re-election campaign issued a statement criticizing Vance for saying that if he were vice president, he would have allowed “multiple slates of electors” to challenge Biden’s victory over Trump four years ago. Trump has repeatedly promoted falsehoods about election fraud before and after Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters loyal to the former president stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of his loss.

“Donald Trump chose JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence would not do on January 6: he will do whatever it takes to enable Trump to advance his radical MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter what harm it does to the American people,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.

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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, the other candidates on Trump’s shortlist, were informed earlier Monday afternoon that they were not his nominees, according to people familiar with their conversations.

Trump has spent months testing the field, gauging how his candidates performed on television, at fundraisers and on the stages of rallies. Several, including Burgum and Vance, joined him in his criminal bribery trial in New York. Others attended last month’s debate, where Biden’s disastrous performance upended his campaign, leading to widespread calls for him to concede in favor of a younger candidate.

In Hillbilly Elegy, Vance detailed life in Appalachian communities that had split from the Democratic Party, which many residents saw as disconnected from their daily struggles. Although the book was a bestseller, it was also criticized for oversimplifying rural life and ignoring the role of racism in contemporary politics.

Vance was once a harsh critic of Trump

The relationship between Vance and Trump was symbiotic.

Vance’s fame grew in tandem with Trump’s improbable rise from reality TV star to Republican presidential candidate and ultimately president. Early in Trump’s political career, Vance cast him as a “total fraud,” a “moral catastrophe” and the “Hitler of America.”

But like many Republicans who have sought relevance in the Trump era, Vance eventually changed his tune. He said he had been proven wrong by Trump’s record in office and became one of his staunchest defenders.

“I didn’t think he would be a good president,” Vance recently told Fox News Channel. “He was a great president. And that’s one of the reasons I’m working so hard to make sure he gets a second term.”

Vance was rewarded for his transformation during his 2022 bid for the open Senate seat, where he won Trump’s coveted endorsement and powered to victory in a crowded Republican primary and a general election that Democrats fought tooth and nail. He is close to Trump’s son, Donald Jr.

“Look, I’ve seen him on TV,” Trump Jr. said of Vance, speaking to CNN from the conference room. “I’ve seen him make the case against the Democrats. There’s no one more eloquent than him. And I think his story, his background, really helps us in a lot of places that you’re going to need from an Electoral College standpoint.”

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Vance is now a Trump supporter who is challenging the legality of the criminal prosecutions and civil judgments against him, as well as the 2020 election results.

In February, he told ABC News that if he were vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, he would tell states where Trump was contesting Biden’s win “that we need multiple slates of electors, and I think the United States Congress should fight for that from this point on.”

“This is a legitimate way to proceed in an election that many people, myself included, felt had a lot of problems in 2020,” he said.

Many states passed emergency measures four years ago to allow people to vote safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. But judges, election officials from both parties and Trump’s attorney general have concluded there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Vance’s book brought him nationwide fame.

Vance’s book—titled “Memories of a Family and Culture in Crisis”—was acclaimed for its observations on trump’s appeal in middle americawhere industrial job losses and the opioid crisis have driven many families like his into poverty, violence and addiction.

The story of Vance’s hard childhood in Middletown, Ohio, where he was born, and his home region in the hills of eastern Kentucky also charmed Hollywood. Ron Howard directed the 2020 film, starring Amy Adams as Vance’s mother and Glenn Close as his love interest, “Mamaw.”

At his grandmother’s urging, Vance served in the Marine Corps, including in Iraq, and graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. From there, he joined a Silicon Valley investment firm before returning to Ohio to start a nonprofit he said aimed to develop treatments for opioid addiction that could be “scaled nationally.”

Ultimately, our Ohio renewal failed to complete this mission and was shuttered. During the 2022 campaign, then-U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, his Democratic rival, accused the charity of being little more than a front for Vance’s political ambitions. Ryan pointed to reports that the charity made payments to a Vance political adviser and conducted opinion polls even as its real efforts to address addiction largely fell through. Vance has denied that characterization.

As a senator, Vance has shown a certain willingness to work across party lines. He and Ohio’s senior senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, have joined forces on several issues crucial to the state, including a fight over funding Intel is building a $20 billion chip factory in central Ohio and the introduction railway safety legislation in response to fiery derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.