Summary

Current Position: US Senator since 2023
Affiliation: Republican
Former Positions: Venture Capital since 2017; Author, Hillbilly Elegy
Candidate: US Vice President in 2024

After working at a corporate law firm, Vance moved to San Francisco to work in the tech industry. He served as a principal at Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Mithril Capital.

n 2016, Harper published Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. It was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, Vance joined Revolution LLC, an investment firm founded by AOL cofounder Steve Case, as an investment partner, where he was tasked with expanding the “Rise of the Rest” initiative, which focuses on growing investments in under-served regions outside the Silicon Valley and New York City tech bubbles.

In 2019, Vance co-founded Narya Capital in Cincinnati, with financial backing from Thiel, Eric Schmidt, and Marc Andreessen. In 2020, he raised $93 million for the firm.

OnAir Post: JD Vance – OH

News

Vance speaks at Glendale, AZ campaign rally
PBS NewsHour, July 31, 2024 – 7:00 pm (ET)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2_ihqrEH84

i
Media

Press Releases

About

J.D. Vance 1JD  was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, a once flourishing American manufacturing town where Ohioans could live content, middle-class lives on single incomes. Over time, many of those good jobs disappeared, and JD’s family suffered the effects along with many others.

Turbulence was common at home and at school. His grandmother, called Mamaw, was his saving grace. Her tough love and discipline kept him on the straight and narrow. A “blue dog” Democrat, she owned 19 handguns and nurtured a deep Christian faith in herself and her family. She died in 2005, shortly after JD enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

JD went on to serve our nation in the Iraq War, then graduated from The Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He wrote a bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was turned into a Netflix movie. He also started a business dedicated to growing jobs and opportunity in the American heartland.

JD believes Ohioans deserve better. And he aims to fight for it in the U.S. Senate

Personal

Full Name: JD ‘J.D.’ Vance

Gender: Male

Family: Grandmother; Mamaw

Birth Place: Middletown, OH

Home City: Cincinnati, OH

Religion: Christian

Source: Vote Smart

Education

JD, Yale Law School, 2010-2013

BA, Political Science/Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007-2009

Political Experience

Senator, United State Senate, 2023-present

Candidate, United States Senate, Ohio, 2022

Professional Experience

Co-Founder/Partner, Narya, 2019-present

Author, HarperCollins Publishers, 2013-present

Former Research Assistant, Professor George Priest, Yale Law School

Served, United States Marine Corps, 2003-2007

Offices

Columbus
37 West Broad Street, Room 300
Columbus, OH, 43215
Phone: (614) 369-4925

Cleveland
1240 East 9th Street, Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Phone: (216) 539-7877

Toledo
420 Madison Avenue, Room 1210
Toledo, OH, 43604
Phone: (567) 304-3777

Middletown
300 North Main Street, Suite 200
Middletown, OH 45042
Phone: (513) 318-1100

Washington, DC
288 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Contact

Email: Government

Web Links

Politics

Source: none

Finances

Source: Vote Smart

Committees

New Legislation

Issues

Source: Campaign page

American Decline Was a Choice
My hometown of Middletown, Ohio is full of great people, and it has one of the highest citizenship rates in the country—nearly every person who lives there is a US citizen. Yet it has a poverty rate 15 percent higher than the national average. In many of our biggest cities, even right here in Ohio, drive around and you’ll see homeless encampments and trash strewn everywhere. Crime has skyrocketed, and even many successful families find it harder to get ahead. Every day, we read about a new assault on our country: from the Chinese who are stealing from American industry, or from our own “leaders” who teach our kids to hate their own country. Why is this happening? For a simple reason: our leaders have failed.

They chose to flood our country with criminals and drugs. They chose to take a knee as radicals ransacked our cities and made our communities less safe. They chose to make a quick buck by selling our industrial base to China. They chose censorship over the First Amendment.

Our parents and grandparents gave us the most prosperous nation in the world, and our leaders have chosen decline and plunder. But under our Constitution, We the People have the power, and it’s time we used it to fight back.

 

Democracy & Governance

Election Integrity
You have to hand it to the Democrats: give Republicans power, and we try to pass a new law; give Democrats power, and they try to legalize electioneering and ballot harvesting. It’s time to end the COVID-era changes to our elections–we need to go back to having an election day in this country, not an election season, and we need other common sense measures too: Voter ID, signature verification on absentee ballots, and an end to mass mail-in voting.

Economy & Jobs

Restore America’s Manufacturing Base
Our country used to value working class jobs, and then the manufacturing base of our economy was shipped overseas. Working class Ohioans were left in the dust. Job loss devastated families. Communities were forgotten. I’ll fight against the corporate elites who want to continue the status quo that plunders the millions who are unable to use their hands to earn a decent wage.

Over the last four years, President Trump scrapped terrible trade deals and renegotiated them, imposing punitive tariffs on companies that manufacture in China and other nations. These were the right policies, and the effort to rebuild our industrial base is only beginning.

Defend American Small Businesses
Now more than ever, our economy favors foreign companies that vocally oppose American values. Why do Apple and Coca Cola feel the need to threaten states that pass election integrity measures? And why does our economic policy reward them more than local businesses? Our family-owned, American-made businesses are doomed if this trend continues. Did you know that Google, a massive technology company that actively works with the Chinese Communist Party pays a lower tax rate than many Ohio manufacturers who struggle desperately to never do business with the Chinese? At the same time, some of our biggest companies funded Black Lives Matter riots that destroyed our towns and cities. I’m done with an economy that favors anti-American multinationals over pro-American local businesses.

My fellow Republicans love to talk about tax cuts. By all means, let’s cut the taxes of the companies that invest in our country. But we’re going to raise taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas and use their money to fund anti-American radical movements. If these companies are going to wage war on America, it’s time America wages war on them.

Dismantle Big Tech Oligarchy
I know the technology industry well. I’ve worked in it and invested in it, and I’m sick of politicians who talk big about Big Tech but do nothing about it. The tech industry promised all of us better lives and faster communication; instead, it steals our private information, sells it to the Chinese, and then censors conservatives and others for daring to have a controversial opinion.

The solution is simple: we need to break up the big tech companies, to reduce their power in our economy and our politics. We also need to ban the theft of our personal information. If they want our data, it’s time they paid for it.

Spending and Inflation
The Biden administration has spent billions and billions of dollars on things we don’t need. Why do we need a “transportation equity” agency to ensure that we don’t have too many male truck drivers? Why are we spending billions on battery technologies that are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and built by Chinese workers? The result of needless spending is runaway inflation, which has made it harder for normal Americans to afford basic necessities. Inflation has hit our seniors especially hard, many of whom live on a fixed income. It’s time to get this inflation under control.

Health & Education

Protect Conservative Values
The Left has decided to wage a culture war against traditional values. People get fired for saying things that were commonsense 10 years ago. They take hundreds of billions of American tax dollars and send it to universities that teach that America is an evil, racist nation, which is all critical race theory (CRT) is. Those universities then train teachers who bring that indoctrination into our elementary and high schools.

It’s time for us to fight back. Not a single additional dollar for universities—in Ohio or out—that teach critical race theory or radical gender ideology. We need to force our schools to give an honest, patriotic account of American history. And we must give parents resources to control their kids’ education—whether they choose a traditional public school, a charter school, a religious school, or a home school.

Conserve Traditional Families
Many of our families are broken. I know what it’s like to grow up without a father in the home, and the problems that can create for a lifetime. We need to reinvigorate the American family, make it easier to support a family on a single middle-class wage, and encourage fathers to step up in families across our country.

Currently our tax code penalizes marriage and family, we should turn that on its head and reward marriage and family.

Combat Drug and Opioid Epidemic
Opioid addiction has devastated my family and my community. More and more Ohioans are falling victim to addiction, which means an entire generation of children orphaned, and another generation of grandparents forced to step up for our community’s kids. Communities are on the decline as job loss and poverty further engulf them. I’ll work to tackle the drug epidemic, eliminate the drugs coming into our community, and help those devastated by addiction. America is a country of second chances, and I’m proud to say that people in my own family have struggled with addiction for a decade before coming out on the other side of it. We need to ensure more second chances for Ohioans from all walks of life.

Restore Sanity on COVID-19
COVID-19 is undoubtedly a horrible disease that has killed many Americans. But we now know enough about COVID and have developed therapies and vaccines that should allow us to get back to normal. You shouldn’t have to “show your papers” to go to a restaurant in our country, and our children—who are not at significant risk from COVID-19—should be able to go to school in person, without masks hiding the faces of their friends and teachers.

Public Safety

Solve Southern Border Crisis
Unchecked, illegal immigrants are entering our country at record rates. Joe Biden’s do-nothing policies give millions of aliens a free pass to break our laws, traffic drugs into our communities, contribute to rising crime and take jobs away from hardworking Americans. Biden’s policies have created a crisis out of thin air, after four years of President Trump’s successful efforts to get our border under control. As Ohio’s next senator, I will oppose every attempt by the Democrats to grant amnesty, so that our communities are safe places to live and work and raise a family. I’ll also work to finish construction of a border wall, and double the number of border agents in our country. Border security is not rocket science—we simply need the political will and the resources to do it.

We also must reform our legal immigration system. In no other developed country do we allow migration primarily based on family relations rather than skills. Millions of people want to come here, and we should only allow them if they contribute something meaningful to our country. Importantly, our ability to assimilate immigrants successfully—something our country should be proud of—is contingent on American leadership that loves this country. Forty years ago, new American immigrants came to a country where bipartisan leaders delivered a simple message: this great country is now your own, and you have a duty to help build it. Today, those same leaders deliver a different message: this is an evil and racist country, and you owe nothing to it. Because of this, our capacity to assimilate the next generation of immigrants is limited, and our legal immigration system should account for this fact by changing who we let in and reducing the total numbers.

A Foreign Policy that Puts Americans First
For two decades, global elites have played a trick on normal Americans: send your sons and daughters to die for nation-building wars in some far flung corner of the world, and when their utopian fantasies fail, accept millions of refugees into middle and working class neighborhoods. This is a bad deal for Americans, a bad deal for our troops, a bad deal for the refugees, but a good deal for the elites who profit from endless war.

Importantly, American political leaders should stop using America’s military as a social justice side project. Our troops don’t need to focus on diversity or equity or any other progressive buzzword; they need to focus on fighting and winning America’s wars.

Human Rights

End Abortion
I am 100 percent pro-life, and believe that abortion has turned our society into a place where we see children as an inconvenience to be thrown away rather than a blessing to be nurtured. Eliminating abortion is first and foremost about protecting the unborn, but it’s also about making our society more pro-child and pro-family

Protect Second Amendment Rights
Joe Biden and anti-democracy multinational companies are trying to find new ways to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. They’re making it harder to buy firearms and ammunition, and imposing new, unconstitutional regulations on American citizens. I will fight the gun grabbers, whether they’re federal bureaucrats enacting regulations or multinational companies punishing people for exercising their rights. When a payments processor attempts to restrict Americans from buying firearms or ammunition, I’ll push back with federal legislation.

More Information

Services

Source: Government page

Wikipedia

James David “JD“ Vance[a] (né Bowman; formerly Hamel;[b] born August 2, 1984) is an American politician, author, and Marine veteran who has served since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he is its nominee for vice president in the 2024 presidential election.

After high school, Vance joined the US Marine Corps, where he served from 2003 to 2007. He graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. His memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was published in 2016.

Vance won the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio, defeating Tim Ryan, the Democratic Party’s nominee. Initially opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance has become a strong Trump supporter since Trump’s presidency. In July 2024, Trump selected Vance as his running mate before the Republican National Convention.

Vance has been described as a national conservative[4][5] and right-wing populist,[4][6] and he describes himself as a member of the postliberal right.[7][8] His political positions include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, gun control, and American military aid to Ukraine. Vance is an outspoken critic of childlessness, linking it to sociopathy.[9][10]

Early life, military service, and education

James Donald Bowman was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio,[11][12] to Beverly Carol (née Vance; born 1961) and Donald Ray Bowman (1959–2023). He is of Scots-Irish descent.[13][14] His parents divorced when he was a toddler.[12] After Bowman was adopted by his mother’s third husband, Bob Hamel, his mother changed his name to James David Hamel to remove his father’s name, but she used the name of one of her brothers to preserve his nickname, JD.[15][16]

Vance has written that his childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, and that his mother struggled with drug addiction.[17] Vance and his sister Lindsey were raised primarily by his maternal grandparents, James (1929–1997) and Bonnie Vance (née Blanton; 1933–2005), whom they called “Papaw” and “Mamaw”. His grandparents moved to Ohio from Kentucky’s Appalachia.[13][18]

Vance (then Hamel) in the US Marine Corps, 2003

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003,[19] Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a military journalist as part of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.[20][21][22] In 2005, Vance deployed to Iraq for six months, where he wrote articles and took photos for the Public Affairs office.[23] Upon his return, Vance handled media relations.[23][22] He said that his service “taught me how to live like an adult” and that he was “lucky to escape any real fighting”.[24] His decorations included the Iraq Campaign Medal,[25]Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.[21] Vance served for four years[26] and attained the rank of corporal.[27]

Using the G.I. Bill,[28] Vance attended Ohio State University from September 2007[29] to August 2009,[30] graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and philosophy.[31] During his first year in college, he worked for Republican state senator Bob Schuler.[32]

After graduating from Ohio State, Vance attended Yale Law School.[33][34] He became close friends during orientation with Jamil Jivani, a future Conservative member of Canadian parliament.[35] During his first year, Professor Amy Chua, author of the 2011 book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, persuaded him to begin writing his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.[36]

Vance was an editor of The Yale Law Journal[37] and graduated in 2013 with a Juris Doctor degree.[33] In 2010 and 2011, he wrote for David Frum‘s “FrumForum” website under the name J. D. Hamel.[38][39] Although Hillbilly Elegy implies that Vance adopted his grandparents’ surname of Vance upon his marriage in 2014,[40] the name change actually occurred in April 2013, as he was about to graduate from Yale.[3]

Early career

After graduating from law school, Vance worked for Republican Senator John Cornyn. He spent a year as a law clerk for Judge David Bunning of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky,[41] then worked at the law firm Sidley Austin,[42] beginning a brief career as a corporate lawyer.[43] Having practiced law for slightly under two years, Vance moved to San Francisco to work in the technology industry as a venture capitalist.[33] Between 2016 and 2017, he served as a principal at Peter Thiel‘s firm, Mithril Capital.[44][45]

Writing

Vance in 2017

In June 2016, Harper published Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. The memoir recounts the Appalachian culture and socioeconomic problems of Vance’s small-town upbringing.[46]

Hillbilly Elegy was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2016 and 2017. The Times called it “one of the six best books to help understand Trump’s win”,[47] and The Washington Post called Vance the “voice of the Rust Belt”.[48] In The New Republic, Sarah Jones criticized Vance as “liberal media’s favorite white trash–splainer” and a “false prophet of blue America“, calling the book “little more than a list of myths about welfare queens“.[49]

Vance was a CNN contributor in 2017 and 2018.[50] In April 2017, Ron Howard signed on to direct the film version of Hillbilly Elegy, which was released in select theaters on November 11, 2020. It was released on Netflix for streaming.[51]

Our Ohio Renewal

In December 2016, Vance said he planned to move to Ohio and would consider starting a nonprofit or running for office.[52][48] In Ohio, he started Our Ohio Renewal, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization focused on education, addiction, and other “social ills” he had mentioned in his memoir.[53] According to a 2017 archived capture of the nonprofit’s website, the members of the advisory board were Keith Humphreys, Jamil Jivani, Yuval Levin, and Sally Satel.[54] According to a 2020 capture of the website, those four remained in those positions throughout the organization’s existence.[55] Our Ohio Renewal closed after less than two years with sparse achievements.[53][56] According to Jivani, the organization’s director of law and policy, its work was derailed by Jivani’s cancer diagnosis.[57][58]

During Vance’s 2022 campaign for US Senate, Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee, said the charity was a front for Vance’s political ambitions. Ryan pointed to reports that the organization paid a Vance political adviser and conducted public opinion polling, while its efforts to address addiction failed. Vance denied the characterization.[59][60][c] A 2021 report by Business Insider revealed that Our Ohio Renewal’s tax filings showed that in its first year, it spent more on “management services” provided by its executive director Jai Chabria, who also served as Vance’s top political adviser, than it did on programs to fight opioid abuse.[64]

According to the Associated Press (AP), the charity’s biggest accomplishment, sending psychiatrist Sally Satel to Ohio’s Appalachian region for a yearlong residency in 2018, was tainted by the ties among Satel, her employer, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Purdue Pharma, in the form of knowledge exchange between Satel and Purdue and financial support from Purdue to AEI, as found by a ProPublica 2019 investigation. In an email to AP, Satel denied having any relationship with Purdue or any knowledge of Purdue’s donations to AEI.[65][66]

Investing

In 2017, Vance joined the investment firm Revolution LLC.[67] It was founded by Steve Case, who also cofounded AOL.[67] Vance was tasked with expanding the “Rise of the Rest” initiative, which focuses on growing investments in underserved regions outside Silicon Valley and New York City.[67] In 2019, Vance co-founded Narya Capital in Cincinnati with financial backing from Thiel, Eric Schmidt, and Marc Andreessen.[68] In 2020, he raised $93 million for the firm.[69] With Thiel and former Trump adviser Darren Blanton, Vance has invested in Rumble, a Canadian online video platform popular with the political right.[70][71]

From March 2017 to April 2021, Vance served on the board of directors of the startup AppHarvest, which carried out indoor vertical farming in Kentucky.[72] AppHarvest was also one of Vance’s venture capitalism company Narya’s first publicly announced investments.[72] Vance publicly advocated for AppHarvest, in February 2021 telling the media that it was “not just a good investment opportunity, it’s a great business that’s making a big difference in the world”.[72] AppHarvest went bankrupt in 2023 while owing over $340 million.[72] CNN, citing interviews with former AppHarvest workers, reported that the company “provided a grim job experience for many of the working-class Kentuckians Vance has vowed to help” due to employees’ being “forced to work in grueling conditions inside the company’s greenhouse”, while AppHarvest “eventually began contracting migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala” instead of Americans.[72]

Rockbridge Network

In 2019 Vance and Chris Buskirk co-founded the Rockbridge Network.[73]

US Senate

2022 campaign

Main article: 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio
Final results by county
Final results by Ohio county in 2022:

  JD Vance
  •   80–90%
  •   70–80%
  •   60–70%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   50–60%

In early 2018, Vance considered running for the US Senate against Sherrod Brown,[74] but did not.[75] In March 2021, Peter Thiel gave $10 million to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC created in February to support a potential Vance candidacy.[76][77][78] Robert Mercer also gave an undisclosed amount.[76] In April, Vance expressed interest in running for the Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman.[79] In May, he launched an exploratory committee.[80]

Vance announced his Senate campaign in Ohio on July 1, 2021.[12] On May 3, 2022, he won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote,[81] defeating multiple candidates, including Josh Mandel (23%) and Matt Dolan (22%).[82] On November 8, in the general election, Vance defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan with 53% of the vote to Ryan’s 47%.[12][83] This vote share was considered a vast underperformance compared to other Ohio Republicans, especially in the coinciding gubernatorial election.[84]

While Vance had often previously spelled his name with periods after the initials of his given names (“J.D.”) – including in the publication of Hillbilly Elegy – he dropped this styling after becoming a candidate for office by removing the periods (“JD”).[3]

Tenure

On January 3, 2023, Vance was sworn in to the Senate as a member of the 118th United States Congress.

Data from mid-July 2024 showed that Vance had made 45 Senate speeches and sponsored 57 legislative bills, none of which had passed the Senate; he had also co-sponsored 288 bills, of which two passed both the Senate and the House, but were vetoed by President Biden.[85]

Vance’s Senate work has included:

Vance has also voted against raising the debt ceiling, standing against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.[89]

Vance was criticized for his delayed response to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.[90][91][92] His office released an official statement on February 13, 2023, ten days after the derailment, though Vance had sent a message on social media about the derailment the day after it occurred.[93][94][95]

On February 26, 2023, Vance wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post supporting the provision of PPP style funds to those affected by the derailment, which some Republican senators criticized.[96][97] On March 1, 2023, Vance and Brown cosponsored bipartisan legislation to prevent derailments like the one in East Palestine.[98][99]

Committee assignments

2024 vice-presidential campaign

Main articles: Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign and 2024 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection
Vance and Trump standing together during the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention

On January 31, 2023, Vance endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.[100][101] On July 15, 2024, the first day of the Republican National Convention, Trump announced that he had chosen Vance as his running mate in a post on Truth Social.[102] On July 17, the third day of the convention, Vance accepted the nomination to be Trump’s running mate.[103]

Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, advocated for their father to choose Vance. Several media and industry figures are said to have lobbied for Vance to be on the presidential ticket, including Elon Musk, David O. Sacks, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Thiel, who first introduced Trump to Vance in 2021.[104][105] The Heritage Foundation, which drafted Project 2025, privately advocated for Vance to be Trump’s vice-presidential pick.[106] Musk responded to Trump’s vice-presidential pick hours after its announcement, saying the ticket “resounds with victory”. David Sacks, a prominent GOP donor and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, wrote on Twitter: “This is who I want by Trump’s side: an American patriot.” In 2022, Sacks gave a super PAC supporting Vance’s Senate campaign $900,000, and Peter Thiel added $15 million.[107] It was initially reported that Elon Musk would contribute $45 million monthly to the Trump-Vance campaign,[108] but Musk later said he planned to donate “much lower amounts”.[109][110]

On May 15, 2024, Trump attended a $50,000 per head private fundraising dinner with Vance in Cincinnati.[111] Guests included Chris Bortz and Republican fundraiser Nate Morris.[112] Vance appeared at significant conservative political events and in June was described as a potential running mate for Trump.[113][114] In July, a former friend of Vance’s from Yale Law School exposed to the media communications between them and Vance from 2014 to 2017, with the friend alleging that Vance has “changed [his] opinion on literally every imaginable issue that affects everyday Americans” in pursuit of “political power and wealth”.[115][116]

In late July 2024, after President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for reelection and Vice President Kamala Harris became a presidential candidate, Vance said at a private fundraiser that the “bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden … Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did”; a day later, Vance told the media: “I don’t think the political calculus changes at all” whether Harris or Biden was the Democratic nominee.[117] Following criticism of his past remarks and political positions, Vance said in an August 2024 interview that a vice president “doesn’t really matter” and that “Kamala Harris has been a bad vice president”.[118] This came after Trump said that the “vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact”.[118]

Vance contributed a foreword to Kevin Roberts‘s book Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.[119][120]

Comments on childless women

“Childless cat ladies” redirects here. For the archetype, see Cat lady.

Shortly after being named Trump’s running mate, Vance was criticized for saying in a 2021 Fox News interview, “we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”[121] The resurfaced comments sparked immediate backlash across news and social media.[122][123] Once the comments went viral, MSNBC‘s Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski mocked Vance by appearing on her show petting a cat that was sitting on her lap and asking: “My kids are older. Does that make me childless? I want to qualify.”[124] On July 26, 2024, Vance clarified his remarks on The Megyn Kelly Show, saying, “It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children” and “this is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child”.[125]

After backlash to the Fox News interview, additional comments that Vance made in interviews about women and childless people resurfaced. In a 2020 podcast interview, he said that being childless “makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less, less mentally stable”.[126] Vance also suggested in a March 2021 interview on The Charlie Kirk Show that people without children should be taxed at a higher rate than those with children, adding that the U.S. should “reward the things that we think are good” and “punish the things that we think are bad”.[127] In an August 2024 interview on Face The Nation, Vance said he supported increasing the child tax credit from $2,000 per child up to $5,000 per child, departing from his Senate Republican colleagues, who had blocked an expanded child tax credit in the Senate two weeks earlier.[128][129]

Public reactions

The week after the Republican convention, opinion polls showed Vance with an average −6 net approval, vastly below the +19 that major-party vice-presidential nominees have averaged since 2000 in post-convention opinion polls.[84] That week, Vance’s middling public reception and other concerns led some prominent Republican politicians and political scientists to say that he may have been a poor choice of running mate, especially in light of the shift in the election’s dynamics upon the withdrawal of President Biden from the election and advent of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.[130]

On July 15, 2024, an Internet hoax spread from social network X falsely claiming that Hillbilly Elegy described Vance having sexual intercourse with a couch. Internet memes were generated in response, and the viral hoax’s spread was amplified after the Associated Press published and promptly deleted a fact-check of it.[131] In a rally on August 6, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who had been chosen as Harris’s running mate earlier that day, obliquely referenced the hoax while challenging Vance to a debate. The Harris campaign’s acknowledgement of the hoax and willingness to use it as an attack line received significant media coverage, with some using it as an example of part of a broader messaging shift in the campaign.[132]

Political positions

This section is an excerpt from Political positions of JD Vance.[]
Vance speaking at the 2024 People’s Convention.

During his time in the U.S. Senate, JD Vance has been described as national conservative,[133][134] right-wing populist,[133][135] and an ideological successor to paleoconservatives such as Pat Buchanan.[136][137] Vance describes himself, and has been described by others, as a member of the postliberal right.[138][139][140][141] He is known for his ties to Silicon Valley.[142] Vance has said he is “plugged into a lot of weird, right-wing subcultures” online.[140] Vance has endorsed books written by Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts and far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.[143][144]

On social issues, Vance is considered conservative.[145] He opposes abortion,[146][147] same-sex marriage,[145] and gun control.[148][149][150] He has taken a number of natalist positions. He has often stated his belief that childlessness is linked to sociopathy, and advocated that parents have more voting power than non-parents.[151][152] In August 2024, he backtracked from that suggestion.[153] Vance has lamented that increased divorces adversely affect children of divorced parents.[154] He has proposed federal criminalization of gender-affirming care for minors.[155] He opposes continued American military aid to Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion.[156][157][158] Vance has argued that the largest and most powerful institutions in the country have united against the right and called for “a de-woke-ification program”.[159][160] He is critical of universities, which he has called “the enemy”.[161] Vance is also critical of both the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[162]

In 2016, Vance was an outspoken critic of then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling Trump “reprehensible” and “America’s Hitler“[163][164] and himself a “never Trump guy”.[165][166] In 2021, after Vance announced his Senate candidacy, he publicly announced support for Trump, apologizing for his past criticisms of Trump and deleting some of them.[167][168] That year, Vance advised Trump to fire “every civil servant” to replace them with “our people”.[169] Vance has said that if he were vice president during the 2020 presidential election, he would have deviated from certifying the election results, and instead would have insisted that some states that Trump lost should send pro-Trump electors so that Congress could decide the election.[170]

Personal life

JD Vance at 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, San Francisco

Vance wrote in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, that he was raised in a low-income family by his single mother and grandmother[171] and his family had a difficult life in his hometown, Middletown, Ohio, where his mother’s parents had moved from Kentucky. As a child, he longed for “the American dream, with a happy family at its core”, and admired Bill Clinton for his similar background, noting that Clinton had been “a poor boy with a vaguely Southern accent, raised by a single mother, with a heavy dose of loving grandparents.”[172]

Around 2011, Vance met his wife, Usha Chilukuri, while both were students at Yale Law School.[173] He has called her “my Yale spirit guide”.[173] Usha clerked for a year for Brett Kavanaugh, who was then an appeals court judge in Washington, then clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts for a year.[174] In 2014, Vance and Usha married in Kentucky, in an interfaith marriage ceremony,[175][176] as she is Hindu and he Christian.[175][177] Their wedding included a Bible reading by Vance’s “best friend”, Jamil Jivani,[57][178] and the bride and groom were blessed by a Hindu pandit.[173][179] The couple have three children.

In 2017, Vance wrote in The New York Times that, as someone who had yearned for the American dream as a child, he found hope in Barack Obama‘s personal story, which showed that domestic hardships need not defeat us; Vance also saw similarities in terms of his own early personal accomplishments: “a prestigious law degree, a strong professional career, and a modicum of fame as a writer”, though he noted his political disagreements with Obama.[172]

Vance was raised in a “conservative, evangelical” branch of Protestantism. By September 2016, he was “not an active participant” in any particular Christian denomination, but was “thinking very seriously about converting to Catholicism”.[180] In August 2019, Vance was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church in a ceremony at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He chose Augustine of Hippo as his confirmation saint. Vance said he converted because he “became persuaded over time that Catholicism was true […] and Augustine gave me a way to understand Christian faith in a strongly intellectual way”, further describing Catholic theology‘s influence on his political views.[181] Vance was influenced to convert to Catholicism by Peter Thiel.[182]

Electoral history

2022 United States Senate Republican primary results in Ohio[183]
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanJD Vance 344,736 32.22%
RepublicanJosh Mandel255,85423.92%
RepublicanMatt Dolan249,23923.30%
RepublicanMike Gibbons124,65311.65%
RepublicanJane Timken62,7795.87%
RepublicanMark Pukita22,6922.12%
RepublicanNeil Patel9,8730.92%
Total votes1,069,826 100.0%
2022 United States Senate election in Ohio[183]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
RepublicanJD Vance 2,192,114 53.04% N/A
DemocraticTim Ryan1,939,48946.92%N/A
Write-in1,7390.04%N/A
Total votes4,133,342 100.0% N/A
Republican hold

Works

Notes

  1. ^ The stylization of his initials in published sources varies, but in July 2024, Vance’s Washington office told The Wall Street Journal that he prefers JD Vance, without periods.[2]
  2. ^ Vance was named James Donald Bowman at birth. Afterward, he was adopted by his mother’s third husband and had his name changed to James David Hamel. In April 2013, he adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname of Vance.[3]
  3. ^ According to archived captures of the websites, by April 28, 2021, the domain ourohiorenewal.com was put on sale by hugedomains.com.
    In August 2022 the Ohio Democratic Party set up a website called Our Ohio Ripoff,[61] and from late August[62] to early November 2022, the domain Renewal redirected the user to the domain Ripoff.[63]
    In July 2024, the domain ourohiorenewal.com remains for sale, and the website ourohioripoff.com remains online.

References

  1. ^ a b Lawrence, Drew F. (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance’s Marine Corps Service Would Set Him Apart from Most Vice Presidents”. Military.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  2. ^ “Vol. 37, No. 7: JD Vance”. The Wall Street Journal. New York City. July 17, 2024. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Smyth, Julie Carr (July 26, 2024). “What’s in a name? Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has had many of them”. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  4. ^ a b van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (January 4, 2022). “The Radicalization of J.D. Vance”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  5. ^ Orr, James (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance’s nomination proves Trumpism is here to stay”. The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  6. ^ Goldman, Samuel (July 15, 2021). “Peter Thiel’s implausible populists”. The Week. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  7. ^ Zorzi, Graedon H. (July 16, 2024). “J.D. Vance and the Rise of ‘Postliberalism’“. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  8. ^ Haynes, Gavin (July 17, 2024). “JD Vance has some weird influences”. The Spectator. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024. Vance says he is ‘plugged into a lot of weird, right-wing subcultures’. He draws from a whole new political lexicon, one that would seem baffling to his more starched colleagues in the Congress.
  9. ^ Corn, David (August 1, 2024). “JD Vance Attacked AOC for Promoting a “Sociopathic Attitude” About Children”. Mother Jones. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  10. ^ Sforza, Lauren (July 30, 2024). “Vance: ‘Childless people’ in US leadership ‘more sociopathic’“. The Hill. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  11. ^ O’Brien, Rebecca Davis (July 15, 2024). “J.D. Vance Was Not Always His Name. But It’s the One That Felt Closest to Home”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Ward, Ian (July 15, 2024). “55 Things to Know About JD Vance, Trump’s VP Pick”. Politico. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Rothman, Joshua (September 12, 2016). “The Lives of Poor White People”. The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  14. ^ Kroeger, Alix (April 18, 2021). “JD Vance: Trump whisperer turned Senate hopeful”. BBC News. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  15. ^ “All About J.D. Vance’s Parents, Mom Beverly Vance and Dad Donald Bowman”. People. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  16. ^ Vance 2016, p. 94.
  17. ^ BeMiller, Haley (July 15, 2024). “Who is JD Vance? What to know about Donald Trump’s VP pick”. USA Today. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  18. ^ Horn, Austin (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick, has ties to Kentucky. What to know”. Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  19. ^ Clark, Michael D. (March 10, 2017). “Middletown native J.D. Vance’s book started with simple question”. Journal-News. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  20. ^ Gabriel, Trip (May 4, 2022). “J.D. Vance’s Rise From ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author to Senate Nominee”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 29, 2024. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  21. ^ a b White, Matt (July 15, 2024). “J.D. Vance is first veteran on Presidential ticket since John McCain”. Task & Purpose. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  22. ^ a b Dress, Brad; Mitchell, Ellen (August 8, 2024). “Battle begins over Vance and Walz military records”.
  23. ^ a b Morales, Jeremy Herb, Allison Gordon, Haley Britzky, Sara Murray, Bob Ortega, Mark (August 17, 2024). “Inside the formative military service of Vance and Walz | CNN Politics”. CNN. Retrieved August 18, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Shkolnikova, Svetlana (July 16, 2024). “Vance credits service in Marine Corps for teaching him ‘how to live like an adult’“. Stars and Stripes. Archived from the original on July 20, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  25. ^ Wang, Amy B.; Kornfield, Meryl (July 16, 2024). “J.D. Vance’s journey from a ‘Never Trump’ guy to Trump’s VP pick”. Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  26. ^ “What we know about military records of Walz and Vance”. www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  27. ^ “JD Vance Fast Facts”. CNN. August 12, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  28. ^ “JD Vance: Trump’s anti-Iraq war, pro-Israel vice presidential running mate”. Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  29. ^ Vance 2016.
  30. ^ “Autumn Commencement 2009” (PDF). Ohio State University. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  31. ^ Gold, MIchael (July 15, 2024). “In Vance, Trump Picks an Ambitious Ideologue and First Millennial”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  32. ^ Vance 2016, pp. 184–185.
  33. ^ a b c Saul, Stephanie (July 17, 2024). “How Yale Propelled J.D. Vance’s Career”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  34. ^ Velasco, Rin. “J.D. Vance went to Yale Law School. Here’s what to know about his time there”. Norwich Bulletin. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  35. ^ Jivani, Jamil. “Jamil Jivani: J.D. Vance, My friend the hillbilly”. National Post. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  36. ^ Kitchener, Caroline (June 7, 2016). “How the ‘Tiger Mom’ Convinced the Author of Hillbilly Elegy to Write His Story”. The Atlantic. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  37. ^ “The Yale Law Journal – Masthead: Volume 122”. www.yalelawjournal.org. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  38. ^ “author | FrumForum”. frumforum.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  39. ^ On GPS: The evolution of JD Vance from Trump critic to loyalist | CNN Politics. July 21, 2024. Archived from the original on July 23, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024 – via www.cnn.com.
  40. ^ Vance 2016, p. 339.
  41. ^ “JD Vance selected as Donald Trump’s running mate; Trump officially nominated”. WFTV. July 15, 2024. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  42. ^ Cortellessa, Eric (July 15, 2024). “Why Trump Chose J.D. Vance”. Time. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  43. ^ Primack, Dan (July 16, 2024). “J.D. Vance’s short career in venture capital”. Axios. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  44. ^ McBride, Sarah (January 20, 2017). “Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital Raises $850 Million VC Fund”. Bloomberg Technology. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  45. ^ Wren, Adam; Morris, Meghan (August 29, 2021). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author JD Vance is running for Senate as a savior of the Rust Belt. Insiders and experts say that reputation is unearned”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 25, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  46. ^ Senior, Jennifer (August 10, 2016). “Review: In ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ a Tough Love Analysis of the Poor Who Back Trump”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  47. ^ “6 Books to Help Understand Trump’s Win”. The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  48. ^ a b Heller, Karen (February 6, 2017). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ made J.D. Vance the voice of the Rust Belt. But does he want that job?”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  49. ^ Jones, Sarah (November 17, 2016). “J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America”. The New Republic. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  50. ^ Forrest, Jack (July 15, 2024). “What to know about Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate | CNN Politics”. CNN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  51. ^ “Amy Adams and Glenn Close Are Unrecognizable in Thrilling First Trailer for Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy”. Peoplemag. October 14, 2020. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  52. ^ Hohmann, James (December 21, 2016). “The Daily 202: Why the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ is moving home to Ohio”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  53. ^ a b Stephen Fowler (July 15, 2024). “Trump names Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as vice presidential running mate”. NPR. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  54. ^ “About Our Ohio Renewal”. Our Ohio Renewal. 2017. Archived from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  55. ^ “About Our Ohio Renewal”. Our Ohio Renewal. 2017. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  56. ^ Matthiessen, Connie (July 18, 2024). “J.D. Vance Has Set His Sights on Philanthropy Before. What Should the Sector Expect?”. Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  57. ^ a b Tasker, John Paul. “This Conservative MP is ‘best friends’ with Trump running mate J.D. Vance”. CBC. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  58. ^ Fahrenthold, David A. (October 8, 2022). “J.D. Vance’s First Attempt to Renew Ohio Crumbled Quickly”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  59. ^ Colvin, Jill; Peoples, Steve; Smyth, Julie Carr; Miller, Zeke (July 15, 2024). “Trump picks Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a once-fierce critic turned loyal ally, as his GOP running mate”. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  60. ^ Tim Ryan; J.D. Vance (October 17, 2022). Campaign 2022 Ohio U.S. Senate Debate (Cable TV). C-SPAN. Event occurs at 21:40. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  61. ^ “Our Ohio Renewal/Ripoff”. Ohio Democratic Party. 2022. Archived from the original on August 30, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024. Paid For By The Ohio Democratic Party
  62. ^ “Oops! This site no longer exists because J.D. Vance is a fraud. You will be redirected in 5 seconds…”. Ohio Democratic Party. 2022. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  63. ^ “Oops! This site no longer exists because J.D. Vance is a fraud. You will be redirected in 5 seconds…”. Ohio Democratic Party. 2022. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  64. ^ Adam Wren, Meghan Morris (August 31, 2021). “We found tax records showing ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author JD Vance’s anti-opioid nonprofit faltered”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  65. ^ Smyth, Julie Carr (August 18, 2022). “Vance’s anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma”. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 4, 2024. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  66. ^ David Armstrong (November 19, 2019). “Inside Purdue Pharma’s Media Playbook: How It Planted the Opioid “Anti-Story”“. ProPublica. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024. Purdue’s hidden relationships with Satel and AEI illustrate how the company and its public relations consultants aggressively countered criticism that its prized painkiller helped cause the opioid epidemic.
  67. ^ a b c Heater, Brian (March 22, 2017). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author J.D. Vance joins Revolution LLC to promote startups outside of Silicon Valley”. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  68. ^ Vermillion, Stephanie (February 16, 2020). “J.D. Vance’s New Cincinnati-based VC Firm Excites Local Startup Leaders”. Cincy Inno. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  69. ^ Loizos, Connie (January 9, 2019). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author J.D. Vance has raised $93 million for his own Midwestern venture fund”. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  70. ^ Hagey, Keach (May 19, 2021). “WSJ News Exclusive | Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance Invest in Rumble Video Platform Popular on Political Right”. Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  71. ^ Lutz, Eric (May 20, 2021). “Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance Are Propping Up a Right-Wing YouTube Alternative”. Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  72. ^ a b c d e Gordon, Allison; Medina, Daniel; Devine, Curt; Lah, Kyung (August 13, 2024). “Workers allege ‘nightmare’ conditions at Kentucky startup JD Vance helped fund”. CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  73. ^ Burns, Dasha. “Secretive conservative donor group meets to draw up 2024 plans — with a call-in from Trump”. nbcnews.com. NBC. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  74. ^ Gomez, Henry (January 10, 2018). “J.D. Vance Is Now Seriously Considering Running For Senate In Ohio”. BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  75. ^ Carozza, Vinny (January 19, 2018). “Middletown native and Ohio State grad decides against Senate run”. Dayton Daily News. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  76. ^ a b Kinery, Emma (March 15, 2021). “Peter Thiel, Mercers Back a Potential J.D. Vance Senate Run”. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  77. ^ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (March 18, 2021). “J.D. Vance’s Potential Senate Campaign Is Shaping Up as a Vicious Assault on People Like J.D. Vance”. Slate. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  78. ^ Balmert, Jessie (March 15, 2021). “Super PAC supporting potential Senate candidate J.D. Vance gets $10 million donation from PayPal cofounder”. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  79. ^ Primack, Dan (April 15, 2021). “J.D. Vance tells associates he plans to run for Senate in Ohio”. Axios. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  80. ^ De Lea, Brittany (May 12, 2021). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author J.D. Vance forms exploratory committee to run for Senate seat in Ohio: report”. Fox News. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  81. ^ Shivaram, Deepa (May 3, 2022). “After Trump’s endorsement, J.D. Vance wins a crowded Ohio GOP Senate race, the AP says”. NPR. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  82. ^ Linton, Caroline; Brewster, Adam; Navarro, Aaron (May 4, 2022). “Ohio primary results: Trump-backed J.D. Vance wins Republican Senate race”. CBS News. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  83. ^ “Ohio U.S. Senate Election Results”. The New York Times. November 8, 2022. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 25, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  84. ^ a b Tecotzky, Alice; Dorman, John L. (July 24, 2024). “JD Vance breaks polling records in the worst way”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  85. ^ Leigh, Harri (July 19, 2024). “JD Vance’s Senate record: No new laws, but a platform to spread ideas”. Spectrum News. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  86. ^ Etzel, Gabrielle M. (July 17, 2024). “JD Vance has broken with GOP on key healthcare policies – Washington Examiner”. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  87. ^ Warmbrodt, Zachary (June 1, 2023). “Elizabeth Warren, J.D. Vance team up on bank CEO crackdown”. Politico. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  88. ^ Livingston, Doug (July 17, 2024). “What We Know About J.D. Vance’s Legislative Action on Criminal Justice”. The Marshall Project. Archived from the original on July 20, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  89. ^ Folley, Aris (June 1, 2023). “Here are the senators who voted against the bill to raise the debt ceiling”. The Hill. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  90. ^ Pandolfo, Chris (February 17, 2023). “Ohio governor reacts to JD Vance video, confirms creek ‘very near’ derailment is ‘severely contaminated’“. Fox News. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  91. ^ Allen, Mike (February 23, 2023). “Axios interview: Sen. J.D. Vance sees “our people” hurt by derailment”. Axios. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  92. ^ Ulloa, Jazmine (February 24, 2023). “East Palestine Crisis Tests a Trump-Backed Senator”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  93. ^ Reporter, Kaitlin Lewis Night (February 13, 2023). “Timing of J.D. Vance’s official statement on derailment stirs critics”. Newsweek. Archived from the original on June 26, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  94. ^ Hurley, Bevan (February 14, 2023). “JD Vance slammed for delayed reaction to Ohio train derailment: ‘Gibberish’“. The Independent. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  95. ^ Wulfson, Joseph (February 14, 2023). “Media hits JD Vance for ‘delayed’ reaction to Ohio train derailment, buries how Dem senator responded later”. Fox News. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  96. ^ Vance, J. D. “Opinion A PPP plan for East Palestine”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  97. ^ Weaver, Al (March 2023). “Vance pitches PPP for Ohio while other Republicans say to wait”. WKBN. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  98. ^ Smyth, Julie Carr (March 2023). “Ohio Senators J.D. Vance, Sherrod brown co-sponsor rail safety bill after fiery derailment in East Palestine”. WCPO. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  99. ^ Everett, Burgess (March 2, 2023). “How J.D. Vance made Dem friends on rail safety”. Politico. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  100. ^ “Ohio US Sen. JD Vance endorses Donald Trump in 2024 presidential election”. wkyc.com. January 31, 2023. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  101. ^ Wendling, Mike (2024). “JD Vance was once ‘never Trump’. Now he’s his running mate”. BBC News. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024. I’m a ‘never Trump’ guy. I never liked him” and “My god what an idiot” and “I find him reprehensible” and “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole… or that he’s America’s Hitler
  102. ^ “Trump picks Ohio Sen. JD Vance for vice president”. NBC News. July 15, 2024. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  103. ^ “JD Vance introduces himself as Trump’s running mate and makes direct appeal to his native Rust Belt”. AP News. July 17, 2024. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  104. ^ “How Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk Secretly Lobbied Trump on J.D. Vance”. The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  105. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (July 27, 2024). “Peter Thiel, Elated by the JD Vance Pick, Warms to Trump Again”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  106. ^ “Outside RNC, conservative group defends its Project 2025 guidebook as Democrats ramp up critiques”. Associated Press. July 15, 2024. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  107. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Zakrzewski, Cat; Tiku, Nitasha; Dawsey, Josh (July 28, 2024). “Inside the powerful Peter Thiel network that anointed JD Vance”. The Washington Post.
  108. ^ Kelly, Makena (July 16, 2024). “Elon Musk Among Tech Heavyweights to Rally Behind J.D. Vance VP Pick”. Wired. Archived from the original on July 21, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  109. ^ Lutz, Eric (July 24, 2024). “Surprise: Elon Musk Says He Isn’t Actually Donating $45 Million a Month to Trump”. Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  110. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (July 25, 2024). “Trump says Elon Musk ‘never told me’ he would pledge $45 million a month to campaign”. CNBC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  111. ^ “Trump to hold Ohio fundraiser with VP contender JD Vance”. NBC News. May 1, 2024. Archived from the original on July 3, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  112. ^ “Donald Trump was spotted at Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati airport. Why? Who was he with?”. Yahoo News. May 16, 2024. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  113. ^ “JD Vance VP Speculation Caps Rise From Poverty to Washington”. Bloomberg News. June 20, 2024. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  114. ^ Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland com (June 23, 2024). “Ohio’s JD Vance could be Donald Trump’s running mate. What would happen to his Senate seat if he wins?”. cleveland. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  115. ^ Saul, Stephanie (July 29, 2024). “JD Vance, an Unlikely Friendship and Why It Ended”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  116. ^ Bradner, Eric (July 30, 2024). “JD Vance’s former Yale classmate and friend says emails show political transformation on ‘literally every imaginable issue’“. CNN. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  117. ^ Arnsdorf, Isaac (July 29, 2024). “Vance tells donors Harris change was a ‘sucker punch,’ at odds with campaign”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  118. ^ a b Mitovich, Jared (August 2, 2024). “JD Vance suggests VP picks don’t matter”. Politico. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  119. ^ Pengelly, Martin (July 24, 2024). “JD Vance writes foreword for Project 2025 leader’s upcoming book”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  120. ^ Bedigan, Mike. “JD Vance says it’s time to ‘load the muskets’ in foreword on new Project 2025 book”. independent.co.uk. The Independent. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  121. ^ Reinstein, Julia (July 25, 2024). “JD Vance slammed for ‘childless cat ladies’ comment”. ABC News. Archived from the original on July 26, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  122. ^ Alund, Natalie Neysa. “Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comment sparks uproar from Swift fans: ‘Armageddon is coming’“. USA TODAY. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  123. ^ “Jennifer Aniston slams JD Vance over ‘childless cat ladies’ comment from resurfaced interview”. NBC News. July 25, 2024. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  124. ^ “Vance’s sexist comments on ‘childless cat ladies’ like Kamala Harris go viral again”. The Independent. July 24, 2024. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  125. ^ Samuels, Brett (July 26, 2024). “Vance defends ‘sarcastic’ ‘childless cat ladies’ remarks amid blowback”. The Hill. Archived from the original on July 26, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  126. ^ Sforza, Lauren (July 30, 2024). “Vance: ‘Childless people’ in US leadership ‘more sociopathic’“. The Hill. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  127. ^ Steakin, Will; Faulders, Katherine (July 26, 2024). “Vance argued for higher tax rate on childless Americans in 2021 interview”. ABC News. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  128. ^ Dore, Kate (August 12, 2024). “Vance wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. Here’s why that could be difficult”. CNBC. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  129. ^ Picchi, Aimee (August 12, 2024). “JD Vance wants a $5,000 Child Tax Credit, or 150% more than the current CTC. Here’s what to know”. CBS News.
  130. ^ Multiple sources:

  131. ^ Multiple sources:

  132. ^ Multiple sources:

  133. ^ a b van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (January 4, 2022). “The Radicalization of J.D. Vance”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  134. ^ Orr, James (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance’s nomination proves Trumpism is here to stay”. The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  135. ^ Goldman, Samuel (July 15, 2021). “Peter Thiel’s implausible populists”. The Week. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  136. ^ Dreher, Rod (January 5, 2022). “J.D. Vance: Pat Buchanan’s Heir”. The American Conservative. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  137. ^ Beauchamp, Zack (July 15, 2024). “What J.D. Vance really believes”. Vox. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  138. ^ Ward, Ian (June 8, 2023). “‘I Don’t Want to Violently Overthrow the Government. I Want Something Far More Revolutionary.’“. Politico. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  139. ^ Zorzi, Graedon H. (July 16, 2024). “J.D. Vance and the Rise of ‘Postliberalism’“. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  140. ^ a b Haynes, Gavin (July 17, 2024). “JD Vance has some weird influences”. The Spectator. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024. Vance says he is ‘plugged into a lot of weird, right-wing subcultures’. He draws from a whole new political lexicon, one that would seem baffling to his more starched colleagues in the Congress.
  141. ^ Joyce, Kathryn (January 6, 2022). “The New Right’s Grim, Increasingly Popular Fantasies of an International Nationalism”. The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  142. ^ Breland, Ali (July 17, 2024). “Silicon Valley Got Their Guy”. The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024. On X, he follows niche but popular anonymous posters such as Bronze Age Pervert, Raw Egg Nationalist, and Lomez…
  143. ^ Smith, Michelle; Swenson, Ali (July 31, 2024). “Vance praises a key leader behind Project 2025, a conservative effort Trump has disavowed”. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  144. ^ Meyer, Josh (August 9, 2024). “JD Vance endorsed a book calling far-left ‘unhumans,’ and praising fascist dictators”. USA Today. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  145. ^ a b BeMiller, Haley (August 25, 2022). “Ohio Senate Race: J.D. Vance Focuses on Conservative Family Issues”. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved September 27, 2022. He’s against same-sex marriage and said he would not support federal legislation to codify marriage equality…
  146. ^ Bendix, Aria (July 16, 2024). “Where JD Vance stands on abortion, based on 6 of his statements”. NBC News. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  147. ^ Wagner, John (September 24, 2021). “Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance argues against need for rape and incest exceptions in abortion laws”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  148. ^ Jevin, Katie (July 15, 2024). “Everytown, Moms Demand Action Respond to Trump Announcing Vance as his Pick for Vice President”. Moms Demand Action. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  149. ^ Hutchinson, Bill (August 16, 2024). “JD Vance and Tim Walz claim to be 2nd Amendment stalwarts. But where do the VP picks really stand on guns?”. ABC News. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  150. ^ Villeneuve, Marina (July 18, 2024). ““Gun extremists have a dream ticket”: JD Vance brags about “Mamaw’s” huge gun stash in RNC speech”. Salon. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  151. ^ Kaczynski, Andrew; Steck, Em (July 30, 2024). “It’s not just ‘cat ladies’: JD Vance has a history of disparaging people without kids”. CNN. Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  152. ^ Rascouët-Paz, Anna (July 19, 2024). “JD Vance Says Parents Should Have Bigger Say in Democracy Than Non-Parents. Here’s the Context”. Snopes. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  153. ^ Jones, Ja’han (July 25, 2024). “In his attacks on the ‘childless’ left, JD Vance once hyped a plan to give parents more votes”. MSNBC. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  154. ^ Trau, Morgan (July 28, 2022). “J.D. Vance denies supporting abusive marriages after viral comments”. WEWS. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  155. ^ Eaton, Sabrina (July 18, 2023). “JD Vance proposes federal ban on gender transition care for minors”. cleveland.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  156. ^ Stanton, Andrew (July 15, 2024). “JD Vance eyes shift in Republican Party”. Newsweek. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  157. ^ Stein, Jeff (July 15, 2024). “J.D. Vance pick unnerves GOP’s business elite, thrills populists”. The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  158. ^ Arnsdorf, Isaac; Dawsey, Josh; LeVine, Marianne (July 16, 2024). “How Trump got to ‘yes’ on Vance”. Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024. Major Republican donors opposed Vance because they viewed his inclination toward economic populism as hostile to their model of small-government, free-market conservatism.
  159. ^ Duran, Gil (July 22, 2024). “Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarian Ideas”. The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  160. ^ Vance, J.D. (June 2, 2021). “Fighting Woke Capital”. The American Mind. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  161. ^ Knott, Katherine (July 16, 2024). “Trump taps J.D. Vance, sharp critic of higher ed, for VP”. Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  162. ^ Wilson, Jason (August 22, 2024). “Revealed: JD Vance promoted far-right views in speech about extremists’ book”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  163. ^ Pengelly, Martin (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance once worried Trump was ‘America’s Hitler’. Now his own authoritarian leanings come into view”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  164. ^ Chait, Jonathan (July 15, 2024). “J.D. Vance Joins Ticket With Man He Once Called ‘America’s Hitler’“. Intelligencer. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  165. ^ Owen, Paul (July 16, 2024). “From anti-Trump to vice-president nominee: JD Vance in his own words”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  166. ^ Timmerding, Isabella (July 16, 2024). “JD Vance once coined Trump “America’s Hitler,” now he will serve as his second in command”. FOX 5 DC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  167. ^ Ball, Molly (July 7, 2021). “Breakfast with J.D. Vance, Anti-Trump Author Turned Pro-Trump Candidate”. Time. Archived from the original on July 26, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  168. ^ Oshin, Olafimihan (July 6, 2021). “JD Vance says he regrets past criticism of Trump”. The Hill. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  169. ^ Schapitl, Lexie; Giles, Ben; Adams, Destinee (July 16, 2024). “Where J.D. Vance stands on key issues”. NPR. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  170. ^ Itkowitz, Colby; Reinhard, Beth; Morse, Clara (July 17, 2024). “In Vance, Trump finds a kindred spirit on election denial and Jan. 6”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  171. ^ Kleppinger, Ben (May 22, 2017). “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author J.D. Vance speaks at Centre graduation”. The Advocate-Messenger. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  172. ^ a b Vance, J. D. (January 2, 2017). “Opinion | Barack Obama and Me”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  173. ^ a b c Bernstein, Joseph; Rosman, Katherine (November 2022). “From Yale to Newsmax, Usha Vance Has Helped J.D. Vance Chart His Path”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  174. ^ “Who is JD Vance? Things to know about Donald Trump’s pick for vice president”. AP News. July 15, 2024. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  175. ^ a b Bhatia, Shireen (July 16, 2024). “Ohio Senator JD Vance reveals Hindu wife’s support for his Christian faith”. Christian Today. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  176. ^ “Is There Something More Radical than MAGA? J.D. Vance Is Dreaming It”. Politico. 2024. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  177. ^ “JD Vance and his wife discuss the potential of being picked for Trump’s VP”. Fox & Friends. Fox News (video). June 26, 2024. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  178. ^ “Meet JD Vance’s Indian American Wife Usha Chilukuri”. India West Journal. May 4, 2022. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  179. ^ “J.D. Vance’s 3 Kids: All About Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel”. People. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  180. ^ Dallas, Kelsey (September 9, 2016). “Author J.D. Vance: Faith made me believe in a hopeful future”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  181. ^ Dreher, Rod (August 11, 2019). “J.D. Vance Becomes Catholic”. The American Conservative. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  182. ^ Lampen, Claire. “A Guide to J.D. Vance’s Most Unhinged Public Statements”. thecut.com. The New Yorker. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  183. ^ a b “2022 Official Election Results”. Ohio Secretary of State. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  184. ^ McCoy, Robert (July 24, 2024). “J.D. Vance in Serious Trouble After Damning Project 2025 Book Foreword”. The New Republic. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
Party political offices
Preceded by

 Republican nominee for US Senator from Ohio
(Class 3)
2022		Most recent
Preceded by

 Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States
2024
U.S. Senate
Preceded by

 US Senator (Class 3) from Ohio
2023–present
Served alongside: Sherrod Brown		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by

as United States Senator from Vermont

 Order of precedence of the United States
as United States Senator from Ohio 		Succeeded by

as United States Senator from Alabama

Preceded by

 United States senators by seniority
95th		Succeeded by


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Vance