Now officially the Republican nominee for president in 2024, former President Trump has chosen Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate. Vance has only been in the Senate for two years.
JUANA SUMMERS, OWNER:
Former President Donald Trump, who is now officially the Republican nominee for president in 2024, has chosen Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) JD, JD, JD, JD, JD, JD, JD
SUMMERS: The crowd at the RNC in Milwaukee erupted in applause when the official announcement was made as Vance stood on the convention floor with his wife, Usha. Vance has been in the Senate for less than two years. At 39, he is half Trump’s age, 78. He is also a best-selling author, and his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” has been adapted into a major motion picture. The memoir tells Vance’s story of growing up in the Appalachian region of southern Ohio and a family struggling with poverty and drug addiction. NPR’s Don Gonyea is in Milwaukee and joins me now. Hey, Don.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Hello.
SUMMERS: So Don, let’s start by telling us what JD Vance would bring to the Republican vote?
GONYEA: The sense is that he’s going to be a really aggressive fighter, an effective campaigner. But listen to how Donald Trump Jr. brought this up on the convention floor today. Trump Jr. has been one of Vance’s biggest supporters throughout the entire process. Here he is talking to reporters.
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DONALD TRUMP JR: His background, his story, when you talk about the Rust Belt, this is going to be a Rush Belt election, I think. Wisconsin is going to be a big part of it. Michigan is going to be a big part of it, Pennsylvania – and that’s his battleground. That’s his home.
GONYEA: You can hear him criticize those battleground states. And former President Trump himself echoed that in his Truth Social post announcing his pick, citing Vance’s appeal to working-class voters.
SUMMERS: I mean, Don, I think we’re going to see these two men stand side by side on stage together. When they do, what message do they hope to send to voters?
GONYEA: Yeah, they both have a reputation for being really combative, but there’s also a generational balance. There’s no doubt that Vance is hoping to appeal to younger voters. And of course, all of this is coming just days after the events of the weekend in Pennsylvania. So they’re pushing a message of resilience. And it’s worth noting that there was talk of potential running mates including Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio, who might have been able to appeal to Black or Latino voters. But Trump decided not to go that route.
SUMMERS: We just remind everyone that this will be Trump’s second vice president. He previously picked former Indiana governor Mike Pence, who Trump condemned for not stopping the certification of the 2020 election amid the violence at the Capitol that we saw on January 6. So Don, what motivation do you think Trump was looking for in picking Vance as his running mate?
GONYEA: He certainly thought he was burned by Pence, and he seemed certain that in Vance, he had someone who was going to stand by him no matter what. And, you know, the old model was you pick a running mate to be an attack dog on the trail. Trump was always happy to be the attack dog. But just to be sure, he’s now added another attack dog to the mix.
SUMMERS: Right. I mean, I remember, Don, covering JD Vance when we covered politics together, and I know he wasn’t always a Trump ally. So help us understand how he got involved with Trump.
GONYEA: Yeah, he was one of those people who never supported Trump, right? And even after Trump took office, he wondered – Vance wondered – if Trump was America’s Hitler. But when Vance ran for president himself in 2022, he was all in. He was a defender of Donald Trump. Trump supported him. He spoke very well of him, and now here we are.
SUMMERS: Here we are, yes. That’s Don Gonyea from NPR. Don, thank you.
GONYEA: It’s a pleasure to serve you.
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