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JD Vance is slated to make his first public address as former President Donald Trump's running mate Wednesday in a highly anticipated moment for voters in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election.
The Ohio senator's speech will headline the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
This year's gathering is the first RNC that Vance has attended, according to a Trump campaign source who was not authorized to speak publicly. A relative political unknown, Vance rapidly morphed in recent years from a severe critic of Trump to an aggressive defender.
Here's what to know about the Republican vice-presidential nominee ahead of his address:
Who is JD Vance?
Vance is expected to lean into his biography as someone who grew up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent, but went on to the highest levels of US politics. It's a story meant to connect with voters in middle America and shed light on how Vance's upbringing shaped his positions on issues such as immigration, inflation and drugs, according to a person familiar with the speech who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
RNC Milwaukee
Vance is an Ivy League graduate and a businessman, but his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy ” explores his blue-collar roots. It made him a national name when it was published in 2016. The book is now seen as a window into some of the cultural forces that propelled Trump to the White House that year, earning Vance a reputation as someone who could help explain the maverick New York businessman’s appeal in middle America.
“Hillbilly Elegy” also introduced Vance to the Trump family. Donald Trump Jr. loved the book and knew of Vance when he went to launch his political career. The two hit it off and have remained friends.
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After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Vance returned to his native Ohio and set up an anti-opioid charity. He also took to the lecture circuit and was a favored guest at Republican Lincoln Day dinners where his personal story — including the hardship Vance endured because of his mother’s drug addiction — resonated.
Vance's appearances were opportunities to sell his ideas for fixing the country and helped lay the groundwork for entering politics in 2021, when he sought the Senate seat vacated by Republican Rob Portman, who retired.
Trump endorsed Vance. Vance went on to win a crowded Republican primary and the general election.
The 39-year-old Vance is positioned to become a potential leader of the former president’s political movement, which has reshaped the Republican Party and broken longtime political norms. The first millennial to join a major party ticket, he joins the race when questions about the age of the men at the top — 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden — have been high on the list of voters’ concerns.
JD and his wife Usha Vance live in Cincinnati, and have three children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
Where does Vance stand on major issues? What about Donald Trump?
Vance was a “never Trump” Republican in 2016. He called Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for office. Vance, whose wife, lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance, is Indian-American, also criticized Trump’s racist rhetoric, saying he could be “America’s Hitler.”
But by the time Vance met Trump in 2021, he had reversed his opinion, citing Trump’s accomplishments as president. Both men downplayed Vance's past scathing criticism.
Once elected, Vance became a fierce Trump ally on Capitol Hill, unceasingly defending Trump’s policies and behavior.
In his first interview after accepting Trump’s offer to join the ticket, Vance sought to explain his metamorphosis. Vance said in a Fox News Channel interview Monday that Trump was a great president and changed his mind.
“I think he changed the minds of a lot of Americans, because again he delivered that peace and prosperity,” Vance said.
Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, called Vance a leading voice for the conservative movement, on key issues including a shift away from interventionist foreign policy, free market economics and “American culture writ large.”
Democrats call him an extremist, citing provocative positions Vance has taken but sometimes later amended. Vance signaled support for a national 15-week abortion ban during his Senate run, for instance, then softened that stance once Ohio voters overwhelmingly backed a 2023 abortion rights amendment.
On the 2020 election, he said he wouldn't have certified the results immediately if he had been vice president and that Trump had “a very legitimate grievance.” He has put conditions on honoring the results of the 2024 election that echo Trump's. A litany of government and outside investigations have not found any election fraud that could have swung the outcome of Trump's 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
In the Senate, Vance sometimes embraces bipartisanship. He and Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown co-sponsored a railway safety bill following a fiery train derailment in the Ohio village of East Palestine. He's sponsored legislation extending and increasing funding for Great Lakes restoration, and supported bipartisan legislation boosting workers and families.
Who is Usha Vance?
Usha Chilukuri Vance, Yale law graduate and trial lawyer, was thrust into the spotlight this week after her husband, JD Vance, was chosen as Trump’s running mate. She is now expected to speak Wednesday just before him at the RNC.
Chilukuri Vance, 38, was raised in San Diego, by Indian immigrants. Her mother is a biologist and provost at the University of California at San Diego; her father is an engineer, according to JD Vance’s campaign. She received an undergraduate degree at Yale University and a master of philosophy at the University of Cambridge through the Gates Cambridge scholarship.
After Cambridge, she met her husband back at Yale, where the two studied law. In his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” JD Vance said the two got to know each other through a class assignment, where he soon “fell hard” for his writing partner.
“In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,” he wrote.
They graduated in 2013 and wed the following year.
After law school, Chilukuri Vance spent a year clerking for Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.
She has since become a trial lawyer for the Munger, Tolles and Olson law firm at its San Francisco and D.C. offices. Chilukuri Vance left the law firm where she worked shortly after her husband was chosen as Trump’s running mate.
“Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm,” Munger, Tolles & Olson said in a statement. “Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career."
In his memoir, Vance credited part of his success and happiness to his wife.
“Even at my best, I’m a delayed explosion—I can be defused, but only with skill and precision,” Vance wrote. “It’s not just that I’ve learned to control myself but that Usha has learned how to manage me.”
Voter records show that as of 2022, Chilukuri Vance was a registered Republican in Ohio, and voted in the Republican primary that year — the same election that her husband was running in the Republican senate primary.
Outside of work, she served on the Cincinnati Symphony Board of Directors from September 2020 to July 2023.
What do politicians think of Vance?
Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s pollster and a senior advisor to his campaign, said Wednesday that Vance will help in pivotal Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where the senator’s blue collar roots and populist views are popular.
“His story is a compelling story,” Fabrizio said while speaking at an event hosted by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and The Cook Political Report.
Illinois delegates reacted to the news from the floor of the convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Some expressed surprise at the choice, but all of them said they will support the ticket.
"That's somebody that we can get behind. He has a lot of the traits of loyalty, a determination and the ability to be president on Day 1, should that be called to action," said former Cook County GOP Chairman Aaron Del Mar.
"I think him coming from a swing state is going to be key. It's going to bring in more electoral votes. I think he brings a lot of energy to the ticket. I'm very excited by the pick," said Mark Hosty, the state central committeeman for the 7th Congressional District for the Republican Party of Illinois.
Michael Allen, associate professor of history at Northwestern University, said historically, the role of a running mate was to create balance between various versions of the political party. He said Trump likely is trying to strike a similar balance in choosing Vance.
"[Trump] sent the message that he is appealing to the sort of white working class voter that JD Vance very much stands for. But he is, I think, also marking a generational succession because Vance is so much younger than Trump is and, for that matter, than Biden," Allen said.
Demetra DeMonte, the Republican national committeewoman for Illinois and the vice chair of the Republican National Committee, said she was expecting to see a governor as Trump's running mate, but she believes Vance is a "good man."
Democrats have sharply criticized Trump — and Vance — for their positions, including questioning U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion.
In a video released Wednesday by Biden's reelection campaign, Vice President Kamala 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 says in the video.
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison released a statement saying “stakes of this election just got even higher” with Vance’s name being added to the ticket.
Harrison went on to say Vance has supported some Trump’s “worst policies” and a Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms and our future. He concluded the statement by saying reelecting Joe Biden and Kalama Harris is “more important than ever.”
In Illinois, several top Democrats were critical of the choice, including Gov. JB Pritzker. Pritzker’s thread on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, begins with “Who is JD Vance” and goes on to refer to him as an “anti-abortion activist,” someone who “voted against IVF access” and more.
What to expect at the RNC Wednesday
Beyond Vance’s prime-time speech, the Republican Party intends to focus Wednesday on a theme of American global strength. Trump’s eldest son and Vance's wife will speak Wednesday. So will family members of service members killed during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and of someone taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
Republicans contend that the country has become a “global laughingstock” under Biden’s watch and are expected to make a case Wednesday hitting on their theme to “Make America Strong Once Again.” That’s expected to include Trump’s “America First” foreign policy that redefined relationships with some allies and adversaries.
Trump, as the presidential nominee, is expected to speak Thursday, the convention's final night. It will be his first speaking event since he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
How to watch Vance's speech live
NBC Chicago will offer a live feed of speeches each day Monday through Thursday in the player above and on the NBC 5 Chicago News 24/7 streaming channel.
In addition, viewers can also access expanded convention coverage via NBCChicago.com, Telemundochicago.com and their respective apps. (Watch live in the player above)
Streaming times include:
Wednesday: 6-10 p.m. CT
Beginning at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday, NBC 5 will carry NBC News’ live primetime event coverage, featuring the evenings’ highlighted keynote speakers, interviews with prominent politicians and undecided voters.
