Who Is JD Vance, Our Next Vice President

“Mamaw always had two gods: Jesus Christ and the United States of America. I was no different, and neither was anyone else I knew.”

― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

At four minutes past two in the afternoon of July 15th during the first day of the Republican National Convention, 2024 GOP nominee and 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump announced via a post to Truth Social that his chosen running mate and nominee for Vice President is Senator JD Vance of Ohio.

Vance arrived on the convention floor two hours later to a hero's welcome for the official nomination vote.

In his post to Truth Social, Trump wrote, “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.”

He added:

“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Congratulations to Senator J.D. Vance, his wife, Usha, who also graduated from Yale Law School, and their three beautiful children. MAGA2024!”

J.D. Vance’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” became a major best seller and movie, as it both championed and critiqued the culture of the hardworking men and women of his native Appalachia.

After the Marine Corps, college and law school Sen. Vance had a very successful business career in technology and finance, and now, during the campaign, in the upcoming campaign he is expected to be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and beyond, said former President Trump.

Vance, who assumed his Senate seat in January of 2023 following a successful campaign against Democrat Tim Ryan, gained national prominence after the publication of his memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ and made a very public pivot from a staunch critic of Trump to being among his strongest advocates.

After the nomination of JD Vance was announced the Biden campaign immediately went on the attack, picking over Vance's hardline record on abortion and saying in a comical flip on the reality of which party is the party of billionaires that he would “do the bidding of billionaires and corporations.”

In his US Senate campaign bio Vance’s team wrote:

“JD was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, a once flourishing American manufacturing town where Ohioans could live content, middle-class lives on single incomes. Over time, many of those good jobs disappeared, and JD’s family suffered the effects along with many others. 

Turbulence was common at home and at school. His grandmother, called Mamaw, was his saving grace. Her tough love and discipline kept him on the straight and narrow. A “blue dog” Democrat, she owned 19 handguns and nurtured a deep Christian faith in herself and her family. She died in 2005, shortly after JD enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. 

JD went on to serve our nation in the Iraq War, then graduated from The Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He wrote a bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was turned into a Netflix movie. He also started a business dedicated to growing jobs and opportunity in the American heartland.”

While Vance’s blue-collar Ohio roots are expected to help the Republican ticket beat Democrat President Joe Biden in his so-called 'blue wall' states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, his youth – he’s the first millennial at the top of a national ticket – and background as a tech entrepreneur – should help the GOP ticket with younger voters and Silicon Valley. Vance is also the first national candidate to sport facial hair in a century and allegedly the first Marine to be nominated for Vice President or President.

One of Vance’s most notable moments in office began for many with the devastating derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railroad train and catastrophic chemical spill and fire in the blue-collar town of East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023.

Shortly thereafter, Sen. Vance began objecting to the confirmation “by unanimous consent” of officials to the Department of Justice, stymying Democrat President Joe Biden’s efforts to stack the DOJ with political hacks noting, “No more banana republic stuff from Joe Biden. So long as he goes after his political opponents, I will hold nominations to the Department of ‘Justice’,” reported by Trending Politics.

Vance explained at the time, “I object to this because we are living in a banana republic where the President is using his Department of Justice to go after his chief political rival, the person he will appear on the ballot with in about a year.”

Vance later made headlines in October 2023 when he was able to pull off what was called a “political miracle” at the time by compelling ten Democrats to agree with him and the GOP Senate minority to prevent the resurgence of face masking mandates with the “Freedom to Breathe Act,”  Fox News reported.

In response to criticism of 2016 comments critical of Donald Trump, Vance later praised Trump’s performance during his first term and publicly apologized during a 2021 Fox News interview and deleted several criticisms on Twitter. He told interviewers, "I was wrong about him."

In spite of his performance and support of Trump over the past three years, many outlets have seized upon the statements against his new running mate, with The New York Times among others drawing on his past writings and statements, long after his apology and change of opinion.

Vance would later tell The Financial Times, “He is one of the few political leaders in America that recognizes the frustration that exists in large parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and so forth,” observing that his grandmother or “Mawmaw,” prominently featured in ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ would’ve appreciated Trump, even if she wouldn’t have voted for him. He would go on to endorse Trump in his 2020 re-election bid, and the President would go on to endorse Vance’s 2022 run for Senate, signaling the healing of any rift.

The Vice Presidential nominee may have truly cemented himself with Trump and his supporters with his full-throated criticism of the 2020 presidential election telling an interview on ABC’s “This Week” in February “If I had been vice president, I would have told the states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there.” As noted by NBC News he said he would certify the results if “it’s a free and fair election,” echoing Trump’s answer to similar inquiries.

Speaking before The National Conservatism of The Edmund Burke Foundation, Vance made it clear that he is aligned with Trump’s MAGA vision saying, “America is not just an idea. America is a nation. America is a group of people with a common history and a common future.” He added, “American leaders should look out for Americans.”

Responding to the attempted assassination of President Trump on Saturday, Vance’s statements were succinct and unequivocally supportive. Sharing Trump’s post to Truth Social he commented, “Courageous, United, and Defiant. This is leadership.”

Matthew Holloway is a contributor for Conservative HQ. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@theconservativefreelancer.com.

CHQ Editor George Rasley attended 11 Republican National Conventions and served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle and on the campaigns of Republican candidates for Vice President Jack Kemp and Sarah Palin.

• 2024 Republican convention

• J.D. Vance

• Trump running mate

• Hillbilly Elegy

• Ohio senator

• Vance abortion views

• Joe Biden campaign

• Iraq War

• Vance Marine Corps

• Blue Wall States

• East Palestine Ohio

• Holds on DOJ personnel

• Freedom to Breathe Act

• Forgotten Americans

• 2020 Election