After weeks of speculation, former President Donald Trump made it official, tapping Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential running mate in this 2024 election.
ABC News held a Special Report Monday afternoon about Vance being selected. Watch in the player below:
Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Truth Social.
The announcement comes one day after News 5 learned that Vance would be receiving enhanced protection from law enforcement following the assassination attempt against Trump.
Vance grew up in Southwest Ohio. Surrounded by poverty and addiction, he yearned for more. He enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school and served in Iraq before returning home to pursue degrees at Ohio State University and Yale Law School, where he met his future wife Usha. They married in 2014 and have three young kids.
"It’s a great day for Ohio," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.
DeWine praised Trump's choice on Monday after the announcement.
"I think what President Trump did is to find someone who is younger but who is very consistent with what the president has been talking about and what he stands for," the governor continued.
Republican strategist Bob Clegg agreed and explained this is a great choice to appeal to a wider audience.
"Age has become a big issue in this campaign," Clegg said. "So how do you emphasize this more — by putting the first millennial ever to be on a national ticket."
Vance is unique. He is young, about to turn 40 in August. He grew up in poverty, went to law school and worked in Silicon Valley.
Trump probably sees a lot of himself in Vance, as well, the strategist said.
"It was somebody that never started in politics, but later found his way into politics after being successful in the private sector," he added.
State Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) is an honorary delegate at the RNC, and he said Vance’s background will help him debate Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime prosecutor and politician who was formerly a U.S. senator and attorney general in California.
"I think J.D. Vance would destroy Kamala Harris in a debate," Williams said. "He's a very educated law school graduate. He thinks logically through issues and becomes really energized when he finds the issue."
DeWine acknowledged Harris' background but said Vance will hold his own against the current VP.
"He’ll do fine, he’ll do fine," DeWine said. "She's a former prosecutor. I'm a former prosecutor, so she's got a lot of experience. But again, I think he'll do very well."
Vance first came on to the national scene with his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, highlighting his upbringing in Southwest Ohio and his journey to success, experiences he took to voters in 2021 when he launched his first bid for public office, seeking to fill the seat of retiring U.S. Senator Rob Portman.
“We got to send someone to the Senate who is not responsive to Democrat or Republican elites, who serves the people,” he told News 5 after launching his campaign.
Vance faced a crowded field of Republican hopefuls, all essentially vying for the endorsement of former President Trump. Vance had a huge hurdle to overcome, with past comments critical of Trump. He was the subject of ads looking to turn Trump voters against him, saying things like “I’m a never Trump guy, I never liked him.”
Vance explained his comments in 2022 as evolution.
“I was wrong, right? I think it’s pretty simple when the facts change in this country, you ought to change your mind,” Vance said. “And Trump was, I think, a very good president for the people of Ohio. He was a very good president for the country, and I think you’ve got to be honest with people. At the end of the day I can’t hide from the fact that I criticized him six years ago, and I’m also not going to hide from the fact that I think he was a great president I’ve been supporting for the past several years.”
With the help of Donald Trump Jr., Vance was able to make that case to the former president, who endorsed him just ahead of the Ohio Republican primary.
“We have to pick someone who can win, and this guy, he’s tough, he’s smart,” said Trump at a pre-election rally in Ohio for Vance.
It was the wind at his back he needed, Trump’s endorsement propelling Vance from the middle of the pack to a clear win for the GOP nomination.
“They wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of Donald Trump’s America First agenda,” Vance said on that primary election night. “Ladies and gentlemen, it ain’t the death of the America first agenda.
He would go on to defeat Democrat Tim Ryan in November of 2022 and was sworn in on Jan. 3. He took many staunch conservative stands, but he also was very open to working with the other side of the aisle, introducing bills with Democrats like Mark Kelly, Elizabeth Warren and more than a few with Sherrod Brown.
“Well, I think you have to go to Washington to get things done,” Vance said of his bipartisanship. “I mean, this is not a high-priced debating society to me. I didn’t want to get here and sit on my hands and go on TV and yell at people. I wanted to actually get things done.”
The Senate was a springboard of exposure to a national audience, something News 5 brought up to him in his first interview after he won the seat in November of 2022 when we asked if he would have any interest in being part of the 2024 ticket.
“Ah, you’re the first person that’s asked me that,” Vance said with a laugh. “And certainly not; I think my wife would kill me and probably a few other people as well.”
Still, as Vance’s stock continued to rise, his thoughts evolved again, and his name rose among the short list of vice presidential hopefuls this year. His answer changed in May when we asked if he would consider it if asked.
“I would be interested in it,” he said. “Because I think we have to help elect President Trump, I think he’s the best person for the job.”
While Ohio claims eight U.S. Presidents, we have had zero Vice Presidents. In fact, we’ve only ever had three people on a national ticket as vice president, with the last occurring when Former Governor John Bricker was Thomas Dewey’s running mate losing to Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
The last before that was 1888 when President Grover Cleveland chose former Ohio Senator Allen G. Thurman as his running mate. Thurman was 74, which at that time was the oldest ever vice presidential hopeful.
Cleveland by the way is the only other president to do what Trump is attempting, to win non-consecutive terms.
If elected, Vance, who will only turn 40 in August would be the third youngest vice president ever when sworn in. John C. Breckinridge, at the age of 36 years, 47 days when he took office in 1857. Richard Nixon beating Vance for 2nd by 160 days when he was sworn in on January 20, 1953.
The Senate was a springboard of exposure to a national audience, something News 5 brought up to him in his first interview after he won the seat in November of 2022 when we asked if he would have any interest in being part of the 2024 ticket.
RELATED: JD Vance talks with News 5 in his first post-election Cleveland interview
