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Trump made the announcement on the first day of the Republican National Convention, posting on social media that Vance was "best suited" to be his running mate.
Former president Donald Trump announced Monday that he chose Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, 39, to be his running mate.
Trump said that the Hillbilly Elegy author "championed the hardworking men and women" of the U.S. Vance has consistently voiced opinions against LGBTQ+ rights.
Related: Project 2025: A blueprint for the oppression of LGBTQ+ Americans
For his part, Vance also previously made comments against Trump. He's said that the former president "might be America's Hitler" and was "noxious." Vance also referred to Trump as "cultural heroin."
Vance, a Republican, is the junior senator of Ohio. He was born in Middletown, Ohio. The lawmaker wrote the book Hillbilly Elegy, published in 2016, which depicted his childhood growing up with a mother who suffered from substance use. He spent parts of his childhood in Kentucky. After he graduated from high school, Vance joined the Marines and served in Iraq.
The lawmaker graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. Before running for the Senate, Vance was a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
Related: Biden campaign and LGBTQ+ groups decry Trump’s pick of J.D. Vance as running mate
During his U.S. Senate campaign in 2022, Vance went from a "Never Trump guy" to a Trump devotee. He apologized for his previous comments against Trump and even got Trump's endorsement.
The New York Times points to comments Vance made recently on CNN where he didn't say forthrightly that he would respect this year's election results.
"If we have a free and fair election, I will accept the results," he said.
Earlier this year he said that had he been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, he wouldn't have certified the elections like Mike Pence. Instead, he said that he would have “told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there.”
Vance had reportedly been one of Trump's top three choices. The other top contenders were supposedly North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
