The Republican National Convention began on Monday, July 15th in Milwaukee Wisconsin. After surviving a near-assassination attempt on Saturday, July 13th at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, at the start of the convention, Donald Trump announced J.D. Vance as his Vice President. Vance, a relatively inexperienced politician who has served as a Senator from Ohio since 2022, has a somewhat conflicting political past. In 2016, Vance was adamantly opposed to a Trump presidency, identifying himself as a “never-Trumper”. Privately, on Facebook, Vance even called Trump “America’s Hitler” and labeled him “cultural heroin”. However, beginning in 2019, Vance shifted his political opinions drastically, voicing sincere support for Trump. In 2022, Trump endorsed Vance in the Ohio Senate Race, and Vance won despite enjoying a narrower margin of victory than other Republican candidates across the state.
Vance rose to national prominence in 2016 after publishing a memoir titled “Hillbilly Elegy” which details Vance’s experiences growing up in a poor white family in the Rust Belt regions of Ohio and Kentucky. Trump has chosen Vance because he hopes he could appeal to this group of voters in the Midwest. To win the presidency, Trump must win states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Conservatives hope Vance will mobilize the white voting base in this region.
Despite branding himself as a “working class” person who grew up in poverty, Vance is worth millions of dollars today. After serving in the United States military, Vance attended Yale Law School and made connections in the financial world, eventually working for Peter Thiel at a venture capital firm in big finance. Vance’s net worth skyrocketed, and tens of millions of dollars raised in the industry went to funding his Ohio Senatorial campaign in 2022. Today, Vance has millions in investments in oil, venture capital, and cryptocurrency. These investments may eventually play a part in shaping a prospective Trump-Vance presidency. Most recent polls project a very close race.
