Vance was originally a critic of Trump, writing a critical piece about him in 2016 in The Atlantic and referring to Trump in private correspondence as "America's Hitler."[6][7][8] Vance later became a supporter of Trump during his presidency.[9] Vance launched his first political campaign in 2021 to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican nomination with Trump's support and running against Democratic nominee Tim Ryan in the general election.
In the Senate, Vance has been described as a proponent of economic populism.[10] On social issues, Vance supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade and opposes abortion rights even in cases of rape or incest, but supports exceptions when a mother's life is in danger.[11] On foreign policy, Vance has opposed U.S. military aid for Ukraine.[12] Vance is a strong supporter of U.S. support for Israel amid the Israel–Hamas war.[13]
Vance was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, to Donald Bowman (1959–2023) and Beverly (née Vance). They were a family of Scots-Irish descent.[14][15] Vance's mother and father divorced when Vance was a toddler. Shortly afterward, he was adopted by his mother's third husband.[16]
Their childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, and his mother was struggling with drug addiction.[17] Vance and his sister Lindsey were raised primarily by his grandparents, James and Bonnie (née Blanton) Vance, whom they called "Mamaw and Papaw."[14][18][19][20] J. D. later went by the name James Hamel, his stepfather's surname, until adopting his grandparents' surname, Vance.[21]
In December 2016, Vance indicated that he planned to move to Ohio and would consider starting a nonprofit or running for office.[37][34] Back in Ohio, he started Our Ohio Renewal, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization focused on education, addiction, and other “social ills” that he had mentioned in his memoir. The organization shuttered in less than two years with few accomplishments.[38] During the 2022 campaign for the Senate seat, Tim Ryan, his Democratic rival, said the charity was a front for Vance’s political ambitions. Ryan pointed to reports that the organization paid a Vance political adviser and conducted public opinion polling, while its efforts to address addiction failed. Vance denied the characterization.[39][40] According to the Associated Press (AP), the charity's biggest accomplishment, sending Dr. Sally Satel to Ohio's Appalachian region for a yearlong residency (2018), was tainted by the ties among Dr. Satel, her employer, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Purdue Pharma, in the form of knowledge exchange between Dr. Satel and Purdue, and financial support from Purdue to AEI, as found by a ProPublica 2019 investigation. In an email to AP, Dr. Satel denied having any relationship with Purdue and any knowledge of Purdue's donations to AEI.[41]
In 2017, Vance joined Revolution LLC, an investment firm founded by AOL cofounder Steve Case, as an investment partner, where he was tasked with expanding the "Rise of the Rest" initiative, which focuses on growing investments in under-served regions outside the Silicon Valley and New York City tech bubbles.[42]
In 2019, Vance co-founded Narya Capital in Cincinnati with financial backing from Thiel, Eric Schmidt, and Marc Andreessen.[45] In 2020, he raised $93 million for the firm.[46] With Thiel and former Trump adviser Darren Blanton, Vance has invested in Rumble, a Canadian online video platform popular with the political right.[47][48]
In early 2018, Vance considered running for U.S. Senate against Sherrod Brown,[49] but decided not to.[50] In March 2021, Peter Thiel gave $10 million to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC created in February to support a potential Vance candidacy;[51][52][53]Robert Mercer also gave an undisclosed amount.[51] In April, Vance expressed interest in running for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Rob Portman.[54] In May, he launched an exploratory committee.[55] Vance is an ally of Republican fundraiser Nate Morris who has also provided financial support to Senator Rand Paul.[56]
In July 2021, Vance officially entered the race;[57] it was his first campaign for public office.[58] On May 3, 2022, he won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote,[59] defeating multiple candidates, including Josh Mandel (23%) and Matt Dolan (22%).[60] In the general election on November 8, Vance defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan with 53% of the vote to Ryan's 47%.[61]
Tenure
Vance was sworn in to the U.S. Senate on January 3, 2023, as a member of the 118th United States Congress. He is the first U.S. senator from Ohio without previous government experience since astronautJohn Glenn who took office in 1974.
Vance was criticized for his delayed response to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.[62][63][64] His office released an official statement on February 13, 2023, ten days after the derailment.[65] Vance and others countered that he had tweeted about the derailment the day after it occurred.[66][67]
"After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio. J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.'s book, "Hillbilly Elegy," became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country. J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond…."
— Donald J. Trump, Former President of the United States and 2024 GOP Nominee, Truth Social
Vance opposes abortion and he has indicated that he may support a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks. He has more recently said that abortion laws should be set by the states.[80][81] When asked whether abortion laws should include exceptions for rape and incest, he said, "two wrong[s] don't make a right."[82]
Vance has likened abortion to slavery, stating in an interview with the Catholic Current that "There's something comparable between abortion and slavery".[83]
LGBT rights
Vance opposes the Respect for Marriage Act[84][85] and has said, "I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, but I don't think the gay marriage issue is alive right now. I'm not one of these guys who's looking to try to take people's families and rip them apart."[86]
Vance has proposed a bill that would make gender-affirming care for minors a federal felony and block taxpayer funds from being used for it, saying in a statement, "Under no circumstances should doctors be allowed to perform these gruesome, irreversible operations on underage children."[87]
Immigration and border security
Vance once admonished Trump for demonizing immigrants, but has repeatedly called the effects of illegal immigration "dirty".[88][89] He has supported Trump's proposal for a wall along the southern border and rejected the idea that advocates for the border wall are racist. Vance has proposed spending $3 billion to finish Trump's wall.[90][91] In 2022, he told Tucker Carlson that Democrats "have decided that they can't win reelection in 2022 unless they bring a large number of new voters to replace the voters that are already here."[92] This led to political opponent Tim Ryan's allegations that Vance was endorsing the far-right, white nationalistGreat Replacement conspiracy theory, according to which there is an effort to replace white Americans with immigrants.[93][92] Ryan later lost to Vance. During his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, Vance said that President Joe Biden was flooding Ohio with illegal drugs by not enforcing security at the southern border,[94] a claim The New York Times called "blatantly false".[95]
In 2023, Vance introduced a bill that would make English the official language of the United States.[96][97]
Vance supports U.S. funding to Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.[100] Vance has criticized the Biden administration for "depriving the Israelis of the precision guided weapons" the country needs, and states that Hamas bears full responsibility for all civilian deaths.[101][102] He criticized Biden in April 2024 for 'micromanaging' Israeli actions in the war, stating "you've got to, first of all, enable Israel to actually finish the job".[103]
When asked whether he would support military action against Iran after militias allegedly connected to Iran attacked U.S. troops, Vance said that it would be a "mistake", citing concern it would be a significant escalation.[104][105]
He has said it is in America's interest to accept that "Ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the Russians".[107] Vance has faced bipartisan criticism for his views on Ukraine. In December 2023, he was criticized for calling for the suspension of further aid to Ukraine because he said it would be used so its ministers "can buy a bigger yacht".[108]
Views on child-free marriages, divorce, and domestic abuse
In a 2021 speech to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Vance blamed "the childless left" for America's woes. He praised conservative Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán for encouraging married couples to have children and said that parents should "have a bigger say in how democracy functions" than non-parents.[109]
In September 2021, while speaking at Pacifica Christian High School in California, Vance said, "This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that, like, 'well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that's going to make people happier in the long term.'"[110]Vice wrote that Vance "seemed to suggest that in some cases, 'even violent' marriages should continue." In response to Vice, Vance claimed that rates of domestic violence had "skyrocketed" in recent years due to what he called "modern society's war on families". In recent decades, rates of domestic violence have decreased.[111][112] A strategist for Vance called Vice's characterization misleading and said Vance does not support people staying in abusive relationships.[113]
Antitrust laws
Vance has expressed concern that large tech companies have too much influence in politics and the flow of information and has called to "break up" Google, as well as implying he believes Meta should be split up.[114][115] He has said that Federal Trade Commission (FTC)Chair Lina Khan, a Biden administration member, is "doing a pretty good job", citing her antitrust enforcement against tech firms.[114][116] Vance and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse introduced the Stop Subsidizing Giant Mergers Act, which would end tax-free treatment for corporate mergers and acquisitions of companies above a certain threshold.[117][118]
Climate change and the environment
Vance has downplayed the effects of climate change. In response to a radio host who asserted there was no climate crisis, Vance said, "No, I don't think there is, either."[119] He also has said, "If you think that man-made climate change is a catastrophic problem, the solution for it is for us to produce more of our own energy, including fossil fuels, here in the United States".[120] Vance has also argued that environmental regulations have caused a large number of manufacturing jobs to be outsourced to other countries.[121] He has proposed a bill that would repeal certain tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act for electric vehicles and would create a $7,500 tax credit for gas-powered cars manufactured in the U.S.[122]
Relationship with Donald Trump
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Vance was an outspoken critic of Republican nominee Donald Trump. In a February 2016 USA Today column, he wrote that "Trump's actual policy proposals, such as they are, range from immoral to absurd."[123] In the Atlantic and on the PBS show hosted by Charlie Rose,[124] Vance called Trump "cultural heroin"[125] and "an opioid of the masses."[126][127] In October 2016, he called Trump "reprehensible" in a post on Twitter,[128] and called himself a "never-Trump guy."[129] In a private message on Facebook he described Trump as "a cynical asshole like Nixon" and "America's Hitler".[130][131] Vance disclosed that he did not vote for Trump in the 2016 election, but instead voted for a third-party candidate.[132]
By February 2018, Vance began changing his opinion, saying Trump "is one of the few political leaders in America that recognizes the frustration that exists in large parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and so forth".[133]
Vance supported Trump in 2020.[134] In July 2021, he apologized for calling Trump "reprehensible" and deleted posts from 2016 from his Twitter account that were critical of him.[135][136] Vance said that he now thought Trump was a good president and expressed regret about his criticism during the 2016 election.[128] Vance visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and Peter Thiel ahead of an official announcement regarding his U.S. Senate campaign.[54]
After historian Robert Kagan wrote a November 2023 Washington Post opinion piece titled "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending", Vance wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter suggesting Kagan be prosecuted for promoting "open rebellion" by Democrat-controlled states. Kagan said that his piece did not advocate rebellion and remarked, "It is revealing that their first instinct when attacked by a journalist is to suggest that they be locked up."[138][139]
On June 30, 2024, on Face the Nation, Vance said, "I believe that the president has broad pardon authority...but more importantly, I think the president has immunity".[140]
Labor unions
Vance has said, "As an abstract matter, yes, I support collective bargaining."[141] He opposes the PRO Act, which expands protections related to employees' rights to organize and collectively bargain, instead voicing support for proposals by the conservative group American Compass, which includes workers' councils and sectoral bargaining.[142][143] Vance spoke in support of the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.[144]
Personal life
Vance has been married to a former law school classmate, Usha Chilukuri, since 2014. They have three children.[145] During the mid-2010s, Vance and his wife lived in San Francisco.[146]
Vance was raised in a "conservative, evangelical" branch of Protestantism, but by September 2016, he was "thinking very seriously about converting to Catholicism" but was "not an active participant" in any particular Christian denomination.[147] In August 2019, Vance was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church in a ceremony at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He chose Augustine of Hippo as his confirmation saint. Vance said he converted because he "became persuaded over time that Catholicism was true [...] and Augustine gave me a way to understand Christian faith in a strongly intellectual way", further describing Catholic theology's influence on his political views.[148]
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