Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio), former president Donald Trump’s freshly minted running mate, made his debut on the national stage Wednesday night with a Republican National Convention speech that linked President Joe Biden’s policy record to the fate of his long-suffering hometown.
Vance criticized “career politician” Joe Biden for supporting the outsourcing of American jobs to other nations and advocating for the Iraq war, channeling the populist themes of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good American manufacturing jobs to Mexico,” Vance said. “When I was a sophomore in high school, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good middle-class jobs.”
“And when I was a senior in high school, Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq,” he continued.
“And at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”
“Joe Biden screwed up, and my community paid the price,” he added.
Vance, whose bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy chronicled his tumultuous midwestern upbringing and personal journey through Yale Law School, also spoke at length about the challenges he overcame to reach this stage in his life.
“Now, I was lucky. Despite the closing factories and the growing addiction in towns like mine, in my life, I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely walk but was tough as nails,” Vance remarked.
“I called her ‘Mamaw,’ the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers. Mamaw raised me as her own as my own mother struggled with addiction. Thanks to Mamaw, things worked out for me”
A Marine veteran and father of three young children, Vance, 39, met his wife Usha in law school. She is a highly accomplished attorney herself, and delivered a speech of her own, giving their love story and details from her own upbringing.
“But the American Dream that always counted most was not starting a business or becoming a senator or even being here with you fine people, it was becoming a good husband and a good dad, and of giving my family the things I never had as a kid,” Vance said, as he went on to praise his wife and kids.
Afterwards, Vance lamented the overdose deaths in his hometown and contrasted the fate of his neighbors with the “corrupt Washington insiders” like Joe Biden, whom he believes spent half a century pursuing counterproductive policies, until Trump came along.
Trump selected Vance Monday afternoon after months of buildup and speculation surrounding various contenders for the slot. Trump’s relationship with former vice president Mike Pence fell apart after the January 6 Capitol riot. Soon after Trump announced his pick, Vance officially accepted the vice-presidential nomination to a loud ovation from GOP convention attendees.
“He brings so much to the ticket, we’re so proud,” Ohio GOP delegate Janet Creighton told National Review from the Republican convention hall. “He’s only been in the Senate for a year and a half, but I think that Americans [are] ready for a fresher face.”
Earlier Wednesday night, Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) compared Vance to former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant, a reflection of how the MAGA faithful feel about Trump’s vice-presidential pick.
Vance’s political career began with a 2022 Senate campaign that saw him win a crowded and bruising Republican primary thanks in part to Trump’s endorsement, the culmination of Vance’s dramatic shift from staunch Trump critic to one of his ardent supporters. He went on to defeat Democratic rival Tim Ryan by 6 percent, underperforming other Ohio Republicans statewide.
“I think it helps in the rust belt — Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan,” Representative Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) told NR. Mace spoke Wednesday night at the GOP convention and described her path from high-school dropout to Congress.
The selection of Vance represents a significant ideological shift in the Republican Party on economics and foreign policy, a transformation that began with Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Vance’s economic views contrast significantly with the GOP old guard’s adherence to unfettered free markets, deregulation, tax cuts, free trade, and entitlement reform.
Like Trump himself, Vance supports tariffs on China, strong restrictions on illegal immigration, and leaving entitlements untouched.
Vance has also expressed support for leaving the corporate tax rate untouched and teamed up with Democratic colleagues on legislation to further regulate banks and eliminate corporate merger subsidies.
On foreign policy, Vance’s skepticism on Ukraine aid and broader vision for American “restraint” abroad represents a sharp departure from GOP’s defense hawks’s muscular foreign policy and fierce advocacy for Ukraine.
“J. D. Vance is the right pick at the right time,” said Representative Troy Nehls (R., Texas.) “I think he can embarrass Kamala [Harris],” he added, referring to a future vice presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Brash and unapologetic, Vance’s ability to defend Trump’s agenda against a hostile national press will likely make him an asset on the campaign trail, especially given his intellectual adherence to Trump’s most lasting ideas.
Audrey Fahlberg contributed reporting