Donald Trump has named Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate, bucking the wishes of Republican donors and the party establishment.
Trump posted on Truth Social Monday afternoon that he was choosing Vance, saying that Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond …”
It’s an interesting pick, given the senator’s previous, quite vocal criticisms of Trump. Vance was only elected to the Senate in 2022, partially due to the fame of his bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, published in June 2016, which was later adapted into a movie. The book, based on Vance’s life growing up in rural Ohio, drew criticism for trafficking in myths and stereotypes about the white working class.
In the book’s heyday, it was seen as an insight into the voter attitudes that gave rise to Trump, even though the then presidential candidate was not mentioned in the book. Vance even criticized Trump while promoting the book, saying, “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”
“I’m a Never Trump guy,” Vance said in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2016. “I never liked him.” In February of that year, he reportedly privately wondered whether “Trump was America’s Hitler.”
A few months later, when the infamous Trump Access Hollywood tape came out, Vance warned, “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us. When we apologize for this man, lord help us.” Throughout 2016 and 2017, Vance liked tweets critical of Trump, including that he committed “serial sexual assault” and was “one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs.” In a set of since deleted tweets, Vance also criticized Trump’s response to the 2017 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, writing, “There is no moral equivalence between the anti-racist protestors in Charlottesville and the killer (and his ilk).”
But of course, like many other Republicans, the self-described “Never Trump” Republican soon changed his tune on Trump, fully backing Trumpism by the time he began his run for the Senate in 2022 and fomenting right-wing attacks on “wokeness” and “critical race theory.” His time in the Senate has continued along those lines, as he has sponsored culture-war bills like one that would completely gut diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in the federal government and claimed he would have tried to overturn the 2020 election results if he was vice president.
The possibility of Vance becoming Trump’s running mate drew objections from several top Republican donors who were concerned about his lack of experience, both in business and in politics. Other top candidates like North Dakota’s Doug Burgum and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida were seen as safer picks, particularly with Rubio’s foreign policy orthodoxy.
But Vance won out in the end thanks to his antiestablishment credentials. He had the support of Silicon Valley tech moguls like Peter Thiel and David Sacks, and Rubio was opposed by several in the Trump camp, including Donald Trump Jr, whom Vance seems to have successfully buttered up.
One Republican strategist criticized Vance’s lack of experience when he was still only on Trump’s V.P. shortlist, saying, “J.D. Vance is a guy who wrote a book and helped with a Netflix show.” Well, now J.D. Vance is the Republican vice presidential nominee, and if Trump wins in November, he’ll be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
