Who is JD Vance? What to know about Donald Trump's VP pick
MILWAUKEE - Former President Donald Trump tapped J.D. Vance to be his running mate Monday at the Republican National Convention, catapulting the Ohio GOP senator even more into the national spotlight.
Here’s what you need to know about Vance:
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Where is JD Vance from?
Vance grew up in Jackson, Kentucky and Middletown, Ohio. He described a childhood consumed by poverty and abuse in his best-selling 2016 memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy." Vance's mother struggled with drug addiction, so he spent many of his formative years with his grandmother – known to him as Mamaw.
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Did JD Vance serve in the military?
Vance joined the Marines Corps after high school and served as a public affairs marine in Iraq.
Is JD Vance married?
Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is a litigator for a law firm based in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The pair met as students at Yale Law School and got married in 2014, one year after they graduated.
Does JD Vance have children?
The couple has three young children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
Where does JD Vance live?
Vance and his family live in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. The senator also bought a $1.5 million home in Alexandria, Virginia, last year, Politico reported.
How long has JD Vance been in politics?
Vance was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 after defeating former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for an open seat in Ohio.
What’s the history between Vance and Trump?
Vance openly criticized Trump in 2016 as pundits used his memoir to explain the former president's popularity with white, rural voters. He previously suggested Trump could be "America’s Hitler," called him noxious and compared him to an opioid.
But Vance changed his tune as he geared up for his 2022 Senate run, deleting controversial tweets and crediting Trump for the work he did in office. He secured Trump's endorsement in a chaotic Republican Senate primary and is now one of the former president's most loyal allies.
What are Vance's policy positions?
Vance personifies what's known as the New Right, a populist conservatism that rejects many traditional Republican views. He supports tariffs on trade and opposes U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts, particularly the war between Russia and Ukraine. He's also spoken out against potential cuts to Social Security.
Some of Vance's work in the Senate has been bipartisan. He introduced a rail safety bill with Sen. Sherrod Brown after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. He also worked with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on legislation to hold executives accountable for failed banks.
At the same time, many of his other bills reflect conservative views. For example, Vance introduced legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors and a bill to eliminate diversity programs in the federal government.
Where does JD Vance stand on abortion?
Vance opposes abortion and often says the government should find ways to encourage people to have children.
Like other Republicans, however, Vance changed how he discusses the issue after Ohio and other states voted in favor of abortion access last year. In a December CNN interview, he said Republicans must "accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans."
More recently, he told Meet the Press that he supports access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Who is JD Vance? What to know about Trump's vice running mate
