who is the senator from ohio?

UNITED STATES – He had called Donald Trump a “America’s Hitler” in 2016, but it is clear that the presidential candidate did not hold it against him. JD Vance was indeed chosen to be the billionaire’s running mate in the American presidential election, and therefore the future vice-president of the United States if the Republican is elected on November 5.

When his rather violent remarks were revealed in 2022, a representative of JD Vance did not deny them. But he added that this no longer corresponded to the vision of the man who became a Republican senator in 2023. It must be said that since then, the elected member of Congress has become an ardent supporter of Donald Trump.

James David Vance, his full name, was born in 1984 in Middletown, Ohio, a state in the Rust Belt that had been hit by deindustrialization. As he recounts in his best-selling autobiography Hillbilly Elegy published in 2016, he was raised by his maternal grandmother. His mother battled drug addiction, while his father left home when he was still very young.

Ancien anti-Trump…

His origins are an asset for Trump, who must win the swing states if he wants to be elected. The Rust Belt includes Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which could lean Republican or Democratic in the presidential election. JD Vance “will focus on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American workers and farmers of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Misconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and beyond.”wrote Donald Trump on Truth Social to justify his choice.

After high school, J.D. Vance joined the Army and was deployed to Iraq. He returned to the United States to pursue prestigious graduate studies at Ohio State University and then Yale Law School. He then began a career in business and finance.

His book, which was adapted by Netflix in 2020, allowed him to gain national stature. But it was first for his extremely critical remarks towards Donald Trump that he got noticed. In 2016, he declared himself a « never-Trump »do not have “never loved” the real estate tycoon who is “a horrible candidate”. Privately, he also says that Trump is the “America’s Hitler” and one “cynical asshole like Nixon.”

When the then Republican senator from Ohio announced that he would not run again in 2022, JD Vance decided to go for his seat. Except that Donald Trump’s support was essential to his victory. He then apologized to the former president and became his most fervent supporter. A conservative, once elected, he approved of populist economic measures, supported his mentor’s violent anti-migrant rhetoric, and criticized the United States’ aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. A Trump encore.

…Became an exact copy of it

In his first interview as Donald Trump’s running mate on Monday, the senator justified his about-face: “I bought into the lies and distortions of the media, I bought into the idea that he was going to be so different, a terrible threat to democracy. It was a joke.”

Seen by some as an opportunist, young and ambitious, JD Vance in any case embodies the future of the Republican Party, Donald Trump’s version. The latter “wants to show that what he wants on the ticket, and for the future of the party, is absolute cohesion with his approach. JD Vance is the face of the new generation, of Trumpism.”analyzed the journalist Major Garrett on CBS.

To be chosen, the senator had to prove his loyalty, an essential character trait for Donald Trump. He was among those who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, lost by the billionaire, and did not commit to recognizing those of 2024.

He was also one of the first to support the Republican after the assassination attempt he was the victim of on Saturday in Pennsylvania, accusing Democrats and Joe Biden of having pushed the shooter to attack his champion.

Yet, the vice presidency could have slipped his mind by a hair. According to comments reported by several media outlets, Donald Trump hates beards while JD Vance sports a copiously full one. However, he refuses to shave it, because it hides his baby face. In the end, it did not harm him.