MILWAUKEE — Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Wednesday night officially accepted the vice presidential nomination, using his speech to the Republican National Convention to lean into his history and decry policies he said have harmed “forgotten communities” across the country.
Vance, who former President Trump named his running mate on Monday, used the biggest moment of his political career to weave together his unique background — born in a poor area near Appalachia, eventually becoming a Marine, a venture capitalist and an Ohio senator — with policies he said have done untold harm to the U.S.
Bad trade deals, “disastrous” foreign wars and a drug epidemic headlined the list, with Vance taking the opportunity to draw a contrast between Trump and President Biden on each issue.
“And at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Vance said.
“Somehow, a real estate developer from New York by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues while Biden was wrong,” he said. “President Trump knew, even then, that we needed leaders who would put America first.”
The Ohio senator received an enthusiastic welcome from delegates and attendees, who chanted “JD! JD!” throughout the 37-minute address, which Trump watched from his front-row suite.
Vance also peppered the speech with anecdotes of “Mamaw” — his grandmother who helped raise him — and praise for his mother, who is 10 years sober after struggling for years with addiction. Delegates chanted “JD’s mom!” after she was introduced and shown seated close to Trump.
One of the loudest cheers during this speech came when he described finding 19 loaded guns stashed around his grandmother’s house because “this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family.”
He was introduced by his wife, Usha Vance, who he frequently referenced, noting that things for them have gotten “weirder and weirder” since he proposed to her in law school with more than $100,000 in debt — “and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky.”
A one-time Trump skeptic, Vance delved deeply into his biography in what was his introduction on the national stage.
Time after time, he turned back to the Rust Belt.
He constantly name-checked Michigan and Pennsylvania — two states crucial for Trump to win back the White House — along with his home state.
“This moment is not about me. It’s about all of us, and who we’re fighting for,” the “Hillbilly Elegy” author said.
The Biden campaign panned Vance on his big night, calling him “unprepared, unqualified, and willing to do anything Donald Trump demands” in a statement.
Vance was tapped as Trump’s deputy over the likes of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R). He was the favored pick of Donald Trump Jr., who told reporters this week that he “couldn’t be happier” with the selection.
Despite only being in the Senate for just north of a year and a half, the Ohio Republican has made his presence felt, especially among those firmly on the “America First” wing of the party, by bucking leadership on numerous topics that have come to the forefront.
Most notably, Vance has been the lead GOP skeptic in the upper chamber of boosting aid for Ukraine — a topic that went unmentioned directly during his address though signs reading “Trump will end the Ukraine war” being distributed on the convention floor — and supporting its war against Russia that has lasted for nearly two and a half years. Consistently, he has insisted that the $61 billion that Biden and Congress greenlighted in April was a waste of resources.
He has instead argued that a negotiated peace should be brokered that includes Ukraine ceding land in the east to Russia in order to end the war — an idea that is flatly rejected by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and most of the Senate GOP conference, who contend Ukraine is fighting in the name of democracy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch Ukraine advocate, said in April while Congress shepherded through the national security supplemental, heavily criticized Vance’s claims that Ukraine lacked sufficient manpower to push Russian forces out of the country and that the U.S. was unable to produce the requisite weapons material.
“That is garbage,” Graham said in an interview at the time. “I challenge JD Vance to go to Ukraine and get a briefing from the Ukrainian military and talk with Ukrainian people, then tell me what you think. … We’re going back, you’re welcome to come.”
Vance has not visited Ukraine.
In addition, the Ohio senator has clashed with Republican leaders following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which spilled toxic chemicals and forced residents in the area to evacuate their homes.
Vance and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have pushed leaders to bring the Railway Safety Act to the floor, but most top Republicans involved are opposed. Unsurprisingly, so is the railway industry as it views the legislation as unnecessarily onerous.
In Wednesday’s remarks, Vance frequently took on the role as Trump’s lead attack dog and defender throughout the speech. He referenced the state of the economy during his first term in office, his plan to take on China and the fentanyl epidemic.
“We will put the citizens of America first,” he declared.
“I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” he said to close his speech. “And every single day for the next four years, when I walk into that White House to help President Trump, I will be doing it for you, for your family, for your future and for this great country.”