Trump names J.D. Vance as his vice
The decision has been made: Donald Trump selects J.D. Vance for White House bid. Ohio Senator is a fervent supporter of the former President. But it wasn't always that way.
Republican Donald Trump announced Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the US Presidential election in November. Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The 39-year-old Vance, Trump wrote, is the best choice. Vance will focus on workers and farmers in contested states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Minnesota during the campaign.
Once a critic of his current endorser, Vance, who turns 40 in August, gained success with his memoirs "Hillbilly Elegy." The bestseller offers a glimpse into a segment of society that helped Trump win in 2016. Today, the author represents Ohio in the Senate. At the Munich Security Conference in February, he spoke as a spokesperson for Trump and urged Germany to invest more in its military. However, in the broader American public, he was not particularly well-known.
"I was not a Trump guy"
In the past, Vance was not particularly known for his loyalty to his current supporter: "What an idiot," the bestselling author tweeted about Trump in 2016. "I'm not a Trump guy, I never liked him," he said in the same year in an interview about the right-wing populist. He even compared Trump to Hitler at one point. However, times have changed: "He's the best President in my lifetime," Vance said in 2022 at a campaign event with Trump in his home state of Ohio. Like his mentor, Senator Vance rails against China, immigration over Mexico, "Big Tech," liberal values, and the "Elites" in Washington.
The announcement came shortly after the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin began. During the convention, the delegates were voting to officially nominate Trump as their party's candidate for the November election. The circumstances surrounding the gathering could not have been more dramatic. Trump was the target of an attack during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The attack during the campaign caused shock in the US and around the world.
Trump fueled speculation
Trump plans to challenge Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in the Presidential election in early November. Biden is running with his current Vice President Kamala Harris, but both candidates have poor approval ratings. In recent weeks, Biden has come under pressure within his own party due to his performance in the TV debate against Trump. Party colleagues have raised doubts about his mental fitness and his suitability for the candidacy.
Trump, meanwhile, had allowed speculation to run rampant for months about who he would choose as his running mate. In US history, the name is usually announced shortly before the nominating convention. Trump waited until the convention was already underway to make his decision public. This is rather unconventional.
In this election year, the focus is more than ever on the vice presidential candidates. The two candidates for the Presidency, Trump and Biden, are both in advanced age. Trump is 78, and Biden is 81 and would be 82 at the start of a second term. And the vice president stands in line for the highest office in the state in the event that the President dies or otherwise falls out.
In the United States Presidential Election 2024, Republican Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, acknowledging Vance's transformation from a critic to a fervent supporter. Despite previously expressing negative sentiments towards Trump, labeling him an "idiot" in 2016, Vance later praised him as the "best President in my lifetime".
