Former President Donald Trump chose Marine Corps veteran and Ohio Sen. JD Vance to be his running mate on the Republican ticket as he looks to retake the White House.
Vance, 39, is currently serving his first term in the U.S. Senate. He served in the Marines as a combat correspondent from 2003 to 2007. He deployed to Iraq in 2005 but never saw combat.
The announcement came Monday, less than 48 hours after Trump survived an assassination attempt while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania. The attack left one rally-goer dead and two others wounded. Trump sustained a cut on his ear and was wearing a bandage when the two appeared on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Vance, born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, earned degrees from Ohio State and Yale Law School after completing his military service, according to the Associated Press. He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
Vance made a name for himself with his 2016 bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which gave him a reputation as someone who could explain Trump's appeal in middle America, especially among working-class, rural white voters who helped him win the presidency in 2016.
In the book, Vance discussed his time in the Corps and explained that he joined the Marines because he wasn’t ready for adulthood.
“I didn’t know how to balance a checkbook, much less how to complete the financial aid forms for college,” he wrote.
After first being a fierce critic of the former president – calling Trump “dangerous," “unfit” for office, and "America's Hitler" – he accepted his endorsement during his 2022 senate campaign, which helped him win the Republican nomination in a crowded field. Since joining the Senate, Vance has become a loyal ally of the former president.
Vance and his wife, Usha, an attorney, have three children.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
