Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Although at one point he vowed to never support Donald Trump, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is now his running mate as Vice President ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election.
But many in Western New York may not be familiar with who Vance is.
Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates says Vance first rose to prominence when writing about his upbringing in "Hillbilly Elegy".
"His mother had a drug problem, and he lived in communities that were just stuck as industry moved out, the things that we might be familiar with in Western New York," said O'Donnell in an interview with WBEN.
Vance went on to serve in the Marines, then went on to Yale Law School and became a Silicon Valley investor, where he built a lot of relationships. That's what he used to launch his political career.
O'Donnell notes at one time, Vance was a "Never Trumper". When did things change? O'Donnell says his cynical side looks to Trump's endorsement of Vance in a primary for Senate.
"He said he really had a wake up [call], and realize that Trump was right on so many things," noted O'Donnell. "I don't know the truth there. I think a lot more will be written, but it was quite a convergence from 'Never Trump', and saying Trump was like cultural heroine and some other really vicious things."
Vance is relatively young at 39, but O'Donnell believes the selection is more about ideological purity from the Trump point of view than what happened on Saturday.
"I think if we want to see a lesson or takeaway from this weekend and the attempted assassination of the former President, it's very true to the Trumpian vision, and that if something does happen, or even if it doesn't, that he would be in a position after four years of a potential Trump administration to carry that flag, and really kind of expand Trumpism beyond Trump," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell says Trump did everything he could to build up some suspense, but there were some clues that he might be headed toward tapping Vance.
