The Republican party confirmed on Monday as its candidate for and Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.
Vance was greeted at with a standing ovation, while Trump made his first public appearance since he survived an days earlier.
“Just overwhelmed with gratitude. What an honor it is to run alongside President Donald J. Trump. He delivered peace and prosperity once, and with your help, he’ll do it again,” Vance said on social media after his nomination.
Trump’s rival, , condemned the Republicans’ choice of vice presidential candidate.
“He’s a clone of Trump on the issues,” Biden told reporters. “I don’t see any difference.”
Who is JD Vance?
Vance is a 39-year-old Marine Corps veteran who rose to prominence with his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” that tells of the hardships he faced growing up in Appalachian Kentucky and Ohio.
When Trump first ran for president that same year, Vance called him “dangerous” and “unfit for office.”
However, Vance was introduced to the Trump family when Donald Trump Jr. became a fan of his book. He eventually met with Trump as president in 2021.
Once he was elected as a senator for Ohio in 2023, Vance fiercely defended Trump’s policies and behavior, which he said resonated with voters who felt forgotten by the party.
Ideologically, Vance has been described by the president of the Heritage Foundation as a leading conservative voice on key issues including free market economics, a less interventionist foreign policy and “American culture writ large.”
Democrats have called Vance an extremist on . He signaled support for a nationwide 15-week abortion ban during his senate campaign, but he softened his stance after Ohio voters overwhelmingly backed .
In recent days, Vance attracted controversy for his comments on the assassination attempt against Trump.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote on social media. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Biden said Monday he had made a mistake by saying Trump should be put in the “bullseye” last week but added that Trump has frequently employed violent rhetoric on the campaign trail.
fb/rmt (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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