Who is JD Vance?

Trump’s VP pick for the upcoming presidential election was selected a few days ago and comes in the form of JD Vance, the 39-year-old Ohio senator. Well known prior to politics for his bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy and a man who went from comparing Trump to Hitler into becoming his biggest fan, with some even going as far to call him a clone of Trump. But who is he? What are his personal beliefs and background? And what is it Trump is hoping he can inject into his campaign? 

Pre politics

A decorated and well versed individual, with time in the marines, a law degree from Yale and a speedy rise throughout his political career, Vance has a good background to boost his support from the public.

 The factor that makes this all the more impressive is how he achieved this, coming from a rough upbringing which he often mentions during speeches, telling tales of his childhood and his mothers struggle with addiction, as well as his areas struggle with poverty. This was all explored within his 2016 memoir Hill billy Elegy and the later film adaptation of the same name (something we will look into later) which largely began his rise into politics, over which time he has shifted and changed in order to keep himself on the winning side of the party, the most notable of which of course being his shift of stance on Trump, whose endorsement in the 2022 Republican primary for the position of Ohio senator pushed him from third place to first. 

From an outside looking in perspective, Vance seems to be a man who seeks to represent the rural underbelly of America in both an economic and cultural sense. His politics reflects the views of the new religious right, no doubt spurred on by his childhood and the people he was raised around and interacted with. He also seems to hold the view that if he can do it, so can they, having put forward the rhetoric that parts of America are held back by culture and laziness rather than solely economic factors.  

Book/Film 

Within Hillbilly Elegy, Vance explores both his childhood, and hillbilly culture as a whole. He lived a childhood where he was often raised by his grandparents (due to his mothers opioid addiction), with undertones of alcohol and domestic violence being common within his household. 

He talks of his childhood home of Middletown, with echoes to his belief that the area was less affected by economic issues but rather a cultural issue of a lack of drive to succeed and that success was based on luck rather than hard work. He then credits his enlistment that readied him for life and gave him the drive and determination to earn his bachelor's from Ohio State, before he later attended Yale. Throughout these experiences he talks of how he grew and changed, leaving behind parts of his hill billy roots in order to become the man he is today (this is only a shortened breakdown; a longer one can be found here). 

Critics of his work however see the book and film as simply glossing over some of the issues that actually held this area back, seeing JD’s view of it being the “culture” that was the main root of the problems as being narrow-minded. A useful example of which comes in the form of this journal. This links some of the arguments as being tied to the idea of Eugenics (sterilising the poor/ unintelligent), although that is not the area I am highlighting here as I do not know enough about the topic to offer a good evaluation of the film, but feel free to read if you would like analysis of this idea. 

The criticism I am going to highlight from this source comes in the form that this text essentially acts as a “negative counter example”, seeing issues as coming from the area's hillbilly roots rather than “the lost factory jobs in the wake of NAFTA” or issues such as the opioid epidemic in these areas. It also argues that it is not the influence of his community that now drives him but rather that of his backers. “The fear he is selling is of the left. Using some of the very problems he disavowed in Hillbilly Elegy he is exploiting the fears of his Ohio “hillbilly” constituents to drive his campaign”.

 Political career

Vance is currently the junior senator for Ohio, as well as the 2024 Republican VP nominee. He is relatively inexperienced in terms of time in office, having only won his seat in 2023. 

As previously mentioned, he succeeded in gaining this seat due to an endorsement from Trump, after previously being critical of the former president he eventually changed stance, Vance explained this in a 2024 ABC News interview. 

When questioned on his comments from 2016 “I'm a Never Trump guy. I never liked him” - To this he responded. "Well, I think in office actually, George, he did a great job and he proved me wrong. He also proved a lot of other people wrong”... “I was wrong and so many were wrong about Donald Trump back in 2015. He delivered, George. Likewise, he did a good job, and I think that's why we ought to give him another run at it.”  

This is a reasonable shift, in 2016 Trump was a divisive figure and while he still remains one today the difference is the party support behind him has shifted. He has much more influence and control over the party now than he did when he made his initial run as an outsider due to his own political success as well as his ability to provide a clear face to his movement. 

So what kind of politician is Vance? He appears to be a populist, following the right of the party with their new Christian approach to politics. This group holds a greater mistrust of elites, as well as his sustained support for more traditional religious beliefs such as a ban on gender reassignment and a general support to protect religious traditional beliefs from big politics. He often garners support through the use of his background and is intelligent and charming, on top of this he is also often aware which way the wind is blowing in a sense, changing accordingly to maintain support. As one article puts it, “He's clever enough to portray his political pivots as personal evolutions and humbling climb-downs, rather than opportunism” link. 

Personal beliefs

As far as beliefs go, it seems he seemingly shares a lot of similarities with Trump. Vance is a self-proclaimed member of the postliberal right, this is largely a movement that seeks to criticise the free market and liberal approach of liberalism, often drawing on religious frameworks to help improve the common good of all people. This ideology supports protectionist policies (such as the ones trump aims to implement) and seems to stem from his background, coming from an impoverished area he has less faith in the markets and sees a need for a greater local boost to economies which he believes this can provide, it also gives less trust in liberal foreign bodies seeing them as damaging shared belonging which relate to his religious views as there is a culture clash.  

Some of his views can come with more problems than others however, his opposition to foreign organisations, as well as lack of support for Ukraine could be an issue with the current international climate and tensions. Requiring more cooperation at this time rather than America taking a more aggressive stance to try and regain its former international standing which has slowly been eroded since the Cold War.  Protectionist trade policies can also come with issues linking China, although it will likely see a boost to domestic US trade and therefore the economy so it’s more of a mixed bag. 

His views on abortion also come with contention as this is one of many hot button topics within the US. Along with his more traditionalist views on marriage also posing more contention vs liberals and questions over his comments on rape being an inconvenience (even though there does appear to be some twisting of words this still will raise eyebrows). These views will definitely appeal to a more right wing religious conservative voter base but slightly damage the broader appeal of Vance to the electorate. 

What does his appointment say about Trump’s direction in this election?

Vance’s Background will help boost the credibility of Trump's  campaign within the Rust Belt states. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are areas in which he is seen to be the most effective (all states lost by Trump in 2020), as well as his America first approach being appealing to the MAGA movement (it's literally in the name). 

He seems to be a very effective appointment however there are some questions about his appeal to a wider voter base, he is very tailored to appealing to a hard right voter base, with a more modest pick being someone more like Nikki Haley to bring in the more moderate wing of the party, which could damage campaign appeal in swing states.