JD VANCE HAS introduced himself to the world after being chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate in November’s US election.
In his speech to the Republican National Convention (RNC), Vance shared his story of growing up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent.
He later joined the US marines, graduated from Yale Law School, and went on to the highest levels of US politics – an embodiment of an American dream he said is now in short supply.
“Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I’d be standing here tonight,” he said.
Speaking to a packed arena at the RNC, he cast himself as a fighter for a “forgotten” working class, making a direct appeal to the Rust Belt voters who helped drive Trump’s surprise 2016 victory and voicing their anger and frustration.
"I officially accept your nomination to be Vice President of the United States of America"
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 18, 2024
Vice-Presidential candidate, JD Vance delivers his first speech as Donald Trump's running mate at the RNC
Trump v Biden latest 🇺🇸 ➡️ https://t.co/aHqyWIA2xf
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“In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” he said.
He spoke about his “mamaw”, who he said “could barely walk, but she was tough as nails”.
Vance went on to describe how his grandmother had died in 2005, shortly before he left home to serve in the Iraq war.
“When we went through her things we found 19 loaded handguns,” explained Vance, drawing raucous cheers of “Mamaw, mamaw” from the partisan crowd.
“They were stashed all over her house – under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer… this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family.
“That’s who we fight for. That’s American spirit,” he said.
“To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this,” he said.
“I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”
Slamming Biden’s presidency, he called for a leader “not in the pocket of big business (who) answers to the working man – union and non-union alike.”
“There is still so much talent and grit in the American heartland, there really is. But for these places to thrive, my friends, we need a leader who fights for the people who built this country,” he said.
WATCH: Sen. JD Vance argued for gun rights at the RNC, sharing a story of his Mamaw's 19 loaded handguns stashed around her house.
— PBS News (@NewsHour) July 18, 2024
"No matter where she was, she was within arm's length of whatever she needed to protect her family,” he said. “That's who we fight for." pic.twitter.com/wIYAGQe3Kr
The 39-year-old Ohio senator is a relative political unknown, having served in the Senate for less than two years.
He rapidly morphed in recent years from a bitter critic of the former president to an aggressive defender and is now positioned to become the future leader of the party and the torch-bearer of Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement.
The first millennial to join the top of a major party ticket, Vance enters the race as questions about the age of the men at the top – 78-year-old Donald Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden – have been high on the list of voters’ concerns.
He also joins Trump after an assassination attempt against the former president – in which Trump came perhaps millimetres from death or serious injury – underscoring the importance of a potential successor.
But Trump’s decision to choose Vance was not about picking a running mate or the next vice president, said Indiana House representative Jim Banks, who introduced the senator at a fundraiser earlier on Wednesday.
“Donald Trump picked a man in JD Vance that is the future of the country, the future of the Republican Party, the future of the America First movement,” he said.
The one-term senator, who will be just 40 on inauguration day, would be the third-youngest vice president in history – and one of the least experienced – if Trump defeats Biden.
While Vance reinforces Trump’s appeal to the hardline base, he offers little chance of broadening the tent to more moderate voters and women.
He is further to the right than Trump on some issues including abortion, where he embraces calls for federal legislation.
With reporting from Jane Moore
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