Senator JD Vance, running mate, will make his national political debut on Wednesday with a primetime speech at the Republican National Convention.
It will be the first time many Americans hear from the freshman senator from Ohio.
The 39-year-old was after Trump announced on his social media platform that he had chosen him as a running mate.
Speaking to donors in Milwaukee before his convention speech, he quipped that he’s told Trump he’s “very excited about this evening” and doesn’t plan to screw it up but that it’s too late for Trump to change his mind.
Vance to lean heavily on his background to relate to Americans
Vance said he would use his speech to make the case about the importance of reelecting Trump.
But the Marine Corps veteran who rose to prominence with his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” would also be introducing himself.
Recounting his upbringing in impoverished conditions in Kentucky and Ohio, with his mother struggling with drug addiction and his absent father, he later attended Yale Law School and ascended to the highest echelons of the US political elite.
In recent years, Vance has shifted from being a harsh critic of the former president to becoming a staunch defender.
The two Republican candidates will face the Democratic ticket of President and Vice President Kamala Harris in the .
In a video released Wednesday by Biden’s reelection campaign, Harris dismissed Vance as someone Trump “knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda.”
“Make no mistake, JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country,” Harris said in a video.
Vance would be the third-youngest US vice president if elected to the office.
According to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted before Trump selected Vance as his vice-presidential choice, 6 in 10 Americans don’t know enough about Vance to form an opinion.
About 2 in 10 US adults have a favorable view of him, and 22% view him negatively. Among Republicans, 61% don’t know enough to have an opinion of Vance.
lo/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters)
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