MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump has named Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate. Vance, who had been highly critical of Trump, adopted the former president’s populist agenda in his 2022 Senate run.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The selection was announced on the first day of the Republican National Convention, just two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Vance rose to national prominence on his best-selling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which focuses on his upbringing in an impoverished part of Appalachia. It was later adapted into a major motion picture.
Vance, 39, served in the Marine Corps before graduating from Ohio State. He went on to graduate from Yale Law School with a JD. While attending Yale, Vance served as editor of the Yale Law Journal.
