Former President Donald Trump has picked J.D. Vance to be his vice presidential running mate.
Trump announced the news on Truth Social on Monday, writing, “After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio. J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.’s book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country. J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”
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The announcement came at the Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee, Wis., on Monday, two days after Trump’s ear was grazed during an assassination attempt during a Pennsylvania rally.
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Vance, a former U.S. Marine and author of the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” was elected as a Republican senator from Ohio in 2022.
Vance, 39, was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, about 40 miles north of Cincinnati. His official U.S. Senate biography states that in his young life “turbulence was common at home and at school.” He enlisted in the Marines in 2005 shortly after the death of his grandmother who was a steadying force in his life, as recounted in his bestselling 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The book was adapted as as a film in 2020 by director Ron Howard for Netflix. Glenn Close, who played Vance’s “Mamaw,” earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress.
Before running for the Senate in 2022, Vance was active as a venture capital investor in Ohio.
After the assassination attempt on Saturday, Trump confirmed on Sunday that he would still travel to the Republican National Convention. The shooter was killed by Secret Service personnel; one person in the crowd was killed by gunfire, and two people were critically injured.
“Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. “Therefore, I will be leaving for Milwaukee, as scheduled, at 3:30 P.M. TODAY. Thank you! DJT.”
In an interview with The New York Post and the Washington Examiner, Trump said, “I’m supposed to be dead” after the attempted assassination.
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” he told the publications, while wearing a bandage on his ear. “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle.”
Many politicians wished Trump well after the shooting and condemned the violence at the rally on Saturday night.
“I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well,” President Biden said. “I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
