Who is J.D. Vance, the Running Mate (Vice-President Candidate) of Donald Trump?

On Monday, ex-President Donald Trump announced his running mate for the 5 November Presidential elections to be Senator James David Vance on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, days after the attempted assassination of the ex-President.

From being one of Trump’s harshest critics, to possibly being one of the youngest vice presidents in history at 39 years of age, Vance has put himself into the spotlight in an already tense election campaign.

So, who is J.D. Vance?

Who is J.D. Vance?

Vance first put himself out to the public when he published his memoir Hillbilly Elegy in 2016.

In his memoir, Vance speaks about his childhood, having an alcoholic mother, and a father who left him when he was just a toddler.

The memoir highlights his “rough” childhood, raised by his elderly grandparents in Middletown Ohio, where he now represents as Senator.

He identifies strongly with his family’s roots in Appalchia, on the fringes of the Midwest where some of the USA’s poorest populations reside.

His memoir highlights some of the difficulties that people in the area faced, while also critically pointing out that some of the reasons for poverty there were self-inflicted.

Following his childhood, Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years, including a half-year tour of Iraq.

After returning, he studied political science and philosophy at Ohio State University, before reading law at Yale.

He then landed a job at multinational American law firm Sidley Austin, before foraging into venture capital.

Vance’s family

Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri with who three children. Usha is the child of Indian immigrants and met Vance in Yale law school.

Unlike Vance, she had attended Yale as an undergraduate and received her masters from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a litigator.

Vance’s stance on issues

In 2016, while Trump was in the election race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Vance was seemingly vocal about his doubts and critics of the ex-President.

Via interviews and Twitter (now X) posts, Vance had made comments such as “I’m never a Trump guy. I never liked him.” and “I find [Trump] reprehensible.”

In response, Vance has since defended his former comments on Trump in an interview with Fox News.

Vance stated that he had been “wrong” in his view of Trump and that the ex-President had been a “great president” and that “[Trump] had changed the minds of many Americans”.

Vance has been conservative in his political support and his views have been largely in line with Trump’s and that of the Republican Party

What have both camps said?

The Republican camp have largely backed the appointment of Vance as Trump’s running mate, with a general consensus that his background and youth would appeal to a wide demographic of voters.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has hit out at the appointment, criticising Vance as being a “clone of Trump on the issues”.

Vice-President Trum- I mean Vice-President Kamala Harris has congratulated Vance on his appointment and encouraged him to take part in the vice-presidential debate slated to be held on the 13th of August.

The United States of America’s elections will be held on 5 November.

You can also watch this video lest you think Trump will win the election after the assassination attempt: