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Who is JD Vance? Things to Know about Donald Trump's Pick for Vice President

Trump's pick for Vice President, US Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
Trump's pick for Vice President, US Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Who is JD Vance? Things to Know about Donald Trump's Pick for Vice President

Trump's pick for Vice President, US Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
Trump's pick for Vice President, US Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)

Former President Donald Trump on Monday chose US Sen. JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate as he looks to return to the White House.

Here are some things to know about Vance, a 39-year-old Republican now in his first term in the Senate:

Vance rose to prominence with his memoir

Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio. He joined the Marines and served in Iraq, and later earned degrees from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

Vance made a name for himself with his memoir, the 2016 bestseller "Hillbilly Elegy," which was published as Trump was first running for president. The book earned Vance a reputation as someone who could help explain the maverick New York businessman’s appeal in middle America, especially among the working class, rural white voters who helped Trump win the presidency.

"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.

He was first elected to public office in 2022

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.

He and Trump have personal chemistry

Personal relationships are extremely important to the former president and he and Vance have developed a strong rapport over years, speaking on the phone regularly.

Trump has also complimented Vance’s beard, saying he "looks like a young Abraham Lincoln."

Vance went from never-Trumper to fierce ally

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 and the mother of their three children, 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.

He is a leading conservative voice

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.

Vance has adopted Trump's rhetoric about Jan. 6

On the 2020 election, he said he wouldn't have certified the results immediately if he had been vice president and said 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.

Vance can articulate Trump's vision

People familiar with the vice presidential vetting process said Vance would bring to the GOP ticket debating skills and the ability to articulate Trump’s vision.

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said Vance compellingly articulates the America First world view and could help Trump in states he closely lost in 2020, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, that share Ohio’s values, demographics and economy.

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Extreme Heat Poses New Challenge for Aid Agencies in Gaza

Flames rise following an Israeli strike on a residential building, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, in this screen grab taken from a video, August 11, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
Flames rise following an Israeli strike on a residential building, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, in this screen grab taken from a video, August 11, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
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Extreme Heat Poses New Challenge for Aid Agencies in Gaza

Flames rise following an Israeli strike on a residential building, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, in this screen grab taken from a video, August 11, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
Flames rise following an Israeli strike on a residential building, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, in this screen grab taken from a video, August 11, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS

In Gaza, the sky is full of menace. As well as the missiles that rain down on schools and shelters, the brutal rays of the sun have made the summer unbearable for those struggling to survive in a ravaged landscape of ruins and rubble.
Samaher al-Daour sometimes wishes she had been killed in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war rather than have to watch her son, who lost a leg during the conflict, endure the unbearable heat.
"The situation is horrible," said Daour, 42, as she sat beside her 20-year-old son Haitham in their sweltering tent in the southern city of Khan Younis in June.
"During the day, it is incredibly hot inside and outside the tent," she said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "We go to the sea but it is still very difficult."
Haitham lost his leg in February during an Israeli airstrike on a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Now the stifling heat is denying him the rest he needs to recover his strength. He sweats all the time and this is irritating his leg and making it swell.
"He is suffering because of this," said Daour.
After 10 months of war, almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million people are displaced. They live in tents or overcrowded shelters, and there is almost no electricity and little clean water.
Hungry and weak, they cannot shower and struggle to sleep in their boiling shelters. In the heat, food is rotting, drawing insects and flies to crowded camps where people, who have been forced to flee again and again, now risk heatstroke and other heat-related diseases.
Since April, Gaza has experienced several periods of extreme heat, with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) during that month. Temperatures throughout August reached an average high of 34 C (93 F), according to U.S. private forecaster AccuWeather.
In late June, the World Health Organization said scorching heat could exacerbate health problems for the millions of displaced, warning that a public health crisis was looming due to the lack of clean water, food and medical supplies.
The heat is also making things more difficult for aid agencies, already hamstrung in their work by the airstrikes, fighting and ravaged infrastructure.
"It would be fair to say that the majority of humanitarian responders, including donors ... have not really considered the threats of heat and extreme heat," said Paul Knox Clarke, principal at ADAPT, a climate and humanitarian initiative.

"The horrors" humanitarian organizations address in crises, he said, often take up too much bandwidth and prevent them from tackling additional challenges, like adapting to the effects of climate change during relief operations.
"It is not unprecedented, but it's not part of the normal playbook," he said.
"It has been complicating everything," said Prabu Selvam, medical officer for the Americares relief agency, adding that the transport of medicines that need to be kept cool was proving particularly challenging.
Because of Israeli restrictions, aid trucks often spend hours under the sun, waiting for clearance.
"Of course, it is going to impact the communities, because often the cold chain medicines are the ones that are most critically in need," Selvam said.
NEW CHALLENGE FOR AID AGENCIES
Nearly 40,000 people have been killed and around 92,000 wounded since the Israeli army began its assault on Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
The offensive has laid waste to homes, schools and vital infrastructure such as hospitals and clinics.
Israel has severely restricted the flow of food and aid into the Strip and humanitarian agencies have been warning of the risk of famine.
Now, the summer's extreme heat has added another layer to the suffering. Recent years have seen a series of lethal heatwaves strike the Mediterranean region and scientists say climate change is driving these dangerous heatwaves.
Save the Children is already adapting its operations in Gaza, said Fadi Dweik, a climate resilience expert at the charity.
Usually, the agency would focus on delivering mental health services and educational support as a first response, Dweik told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
But now, it has prioritized delivering water and sanitation services and nutrition and health support.
"The conflict made us think of details and apply alternatives we had not thought of before," Dweik said. "For the first time the environmental factors are a priority because we cannot ignore them despite the war and destruction that exists."
The heat is not something Sabah Khames can ignore either.
The 62-year-old fled her home in Rafah close to the Egyptian border in May and now lives in a tent with 18 other relatives.
"The tent is a cramped caravan constructed entirely of sheet metal. It is like a sauna inside," she said in a phone interview.
"Sometimes, I can barely catch my breath."