JD Vance – a good VP pick?
Trump weighed choosing Florida senator Marco Rubio as his running mate before ultimately selecting Ohio senator JD Vance as his pick for vice president.
A Trump campaign staffer confirmed the top three candidates were Vance (R-Ohio), Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. In his final decision, Trump chose Vance in part because he could not get over the hurdle of Rubio’s residency issue, as both men live in Florida and constitutionally, they could not have both been on the ticket unless one changed their address.
Trump announced he chose Vance as his VP pick just hours into the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and two days after he was shot by a gunman at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.
At just 39, Vance will be the second-youngest vice president in American history if elected with Trump in November. JD Vance has become the heir apparent to succeed Trump as leader of the populist, national-conservatism movement that has dominated the republican party for the last nine years.
Trump double downed on MAGA with this pick while simultaneously announcing the future of the movement after Trump finishes his term. There is no fiercer and more articulate defender of Trump and his vision than Vance.
Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio. He joined the Marines and served in Iraq, and later earned degrees from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Vance made a name for himself with his memoir, the 2016 bestseller blue-collar “Hillbilly Elegy”. After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Vance returned to his native Ohio and set up an anti-opioid charity. He also took to the lecture circuit and was a favored guest at republican Lincoln Day dinners where his personal story, including the hardship Vance endured because of his mother’s drug addiction, resonated.
Personal relationships are extremely important to the former president and he and Vance have developed a strong rapport over years, speaking on the phone regularly. Vance was a “never Trump” republican in 2016. He called Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for office. Vance, whose wife, lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance, is Indian American and the mother of their three children, also criticized Trump’s racist rhetoric, saying he could be “America’s Hitler.” But by the time Vance met Trump in 2021, he had reversed his opinion, citing Trump’s accomplishments as president. Both men downplayed Vance’s past scathing criticism. Once elected in 2022 with Trump’s support, Vance became a fierce Trump ally on Capitol Hill, unceasingly defending Trump’s policies and behavior.
In the Senate, Vance sometimes embraces bipartisanship. He and Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown co-sponsored a railway safety bill following a fiery train derailment in the Ohio village of East Palestine. He’s sponsored legislation extending and increasing funding for Great Lakes restoration and supported bipartisan legislation boosting workers and families. Vance could help Trump in states he closely lost in 2020, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, that share Ohio’s values, demographics and economy.
Vance is part of a stream of republicans arguing for a hands-off approach to foreign policy. That policy prioritizes U.S. interests, is dubious about military intervention, and questions the U.S.’s longstanding approach to global alliances. His foreign policy can be surmised as “America first with an Israel exception”. When Hamas carried out its attack on October 7 last year, Vance pinned blame on the Biden administration for enabling the Palestinian group.
Vance’s staunch support for a strong US-Israel relationship rests on his view that the country is essential to protecting U.S. interests in the Middle East. Vance has rejected any limits on aid to Israel. Vance has credited his Christian beliefs for his all-encompassing support for Israel.
Vance is against the U.S. providing funds to Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia. At a recent speech at the National Conservatism Conference, Vance said U.S. involvement in Ukraine had “no obvious conclusion or even objective that we’re close to getting accomplished”. The VP pick has also pushed Europe to take on a larger share of military defense, so the US can concentrate on tackling what it sees as threats posed by China.
That is in line with Trump’s own vision, the former U.S. president has promised to negotiate an end to the war if he returns to power. Vance views China as a primary strategic competitor and has called for a more assertive US stance to counter Beijing’s rising influence.
In fact, Vance told the Munich conference earlier this year that U.S. foreign policy should focus on East Asia for the next 40 years. In March, Vance sponsored legislation to block access for the Chinese government from U.S. capital markets if it fails to abide by international trade law. In line with his views about focusing primarily on China, Vance has stated that the US should pivot away from Europe.
Vance is a good choice for Trump as it might help him with key blue collar swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. It will also help him carry the important state of Ohio easier. In terms of independent voters, it might have been better with a person like Tulsi Gabbard, a minority woman and more moderate and soft-spoken. However, Vance will help Trump in some key swing states and cement the Trump MAGA legacy long-term. He is close to Trump’s core believes and close to the Trump children, in particular Donald Trump Junior. This might be the beginning of the next generation Trumps.