Who is JD Vance? People asking such a question should not be taken to task. Anointed recently as Donald Trump’s running mate and possible future Vice President of the United States, Vance is indeed a political newbie.
Well, at least comparatively speaking. He was elected to the Ohio senate just a couple of years ago, in 2022. He is also only thirty-nine years old, one of the youngest Presidential running mates. Certainly, the youngest in 100 years!
Indeed, his rise in the Grand Old Party has been nothing short of dazzling.
The Vice President of the United States is position of immense constitutional importance and sanctity. He or she not only officiates for the President if the latter is incapacitated for whatever reason, but if the President dies in office, also steps into the latter’s shoes. As did Lyndon B. Johnson when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas, TX.
What is more, as practically the heir apparent, Vance has a head start on the Republican presidential nomination in 2029, especially if Trump wins. Trump cannot seek renomination because he has already served one term as president.
This means that Vance is the GOP’s great white hope, the Gen X rising star, who will remake and rejuvenate the party after Trump. For he represents the next generation of MAGA conservatives in the US.
'Rust belt' leader
No wonder, his address to the Republican convention at the Fiserv Forum arena on Wednesday night was keenly watched. Both by supporters and rivals, within the party and from the other, Democratic side.
Why did Trump choose Vance over other likely VP contenders such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio or North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum? Well, one reason is that Ohio is a significant swing state.
For most presidential contests whoever wins Ohio also goes to the White House. The notable exceptions in recent history were Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, John F. Kennedy in 1960, and Joe Biden in 2020.
But Vance has another advantage: youth. It appears that Trump’s first born, Donald Trump junior, only four years older, strongly lobbied for Vance. Why? Because of Vance’s appeal to younger voters. Vance, as a working-class success story, is sure to find many aspirational Americans identifying with him.
Like Vivek Ramaswamy does to children of immigrants, Vance represents the American dream to native born white Americans, who feel sidelined by Democratic “woke” identity politics. These are children of blue-collar Americans from the Northeastern and Northwestern parts of the country, now derisively referred to as the “Rust Belt,” after the demise of US manufacturing.
A direct appeal
What is more, Vance, earlier one of Trump’s severest critics, with his famous motto being “Never Trump,” is now the latter’s staunchest supporter. This also reflects the changing attitude of younger entrepreneurs, investors, and Silicon Valley tycoons.
The latter Vance knows only too well, having worked among them in the past. On most controversial issues including abortion, immigration, and Ukraine, Vance echoes Trump almost to a “T.”
Therefore, the ticket is likely to cause the least disharmony on ideological issues. An ex-Marine of Scott-Irish descent, Vance also appeals to the Republicans’ core constituency.
It was as the author of the best-selling and autobiographical Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (2016), that Vance marked his transition from the old America of the smokestack industries to the brave new world of digital dominance.
Raised by his grandparents, Vance writes in Hillbilly Elegy, that they were, “without question or qualification, the best things that ever happened to me.” His childhood years in a broken home, with his mother struggling with drug addiction, resonates with many younger Americans.
Yet, Vance does not blame circumstances, even the demise of smokestack industries for the decline of Middletown America. He actually diagnoses the ailment as “a lack of agency” in his memoir, “a feeling that you have little control over your life and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself.” Vance thus shows a pathway to those who may have lost their way but want to make good again.
The 'Indian' connection
Also, unlike Trump’s earlier running mate, Mike Pence, Vance is not an evangelical Christian. In fact, his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance, a distinguished career lawyer, is a practicing Hindu. They met at Yale Law School, where Ramaswamy also graduated. Usha, too, is the successful daughter of Indian immigrants. She made this clear when she introduced her husband, mentioning how he learnt to cook vegetarian food for her parents.
This makes Vance much more likeable among less conservative and more multicultural sections of American society though some would argue that it alienates him from redneck Republicans. But, on the flipside, the joke is that either with Kamala Harris or more likely Usha Vance, a woman of Indian origin is likely to occupy the White House within the next five years!
I listened to Vance’s debut speech at the RNC. He is somewhat low-key and much quieter than the flamboyant and flashy Trump, thus an ideal understudy. As a professed “hillbilly,” he appealed directly to voters in the crucial states such Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Many voters in these states are dealing with the twin tragedies of job loss and drug abuse, which JD’s struggle and success testifies.
Right before Vance was to speak, POTUS Joe Biden was reported as down with Covid yet another time. This is certainly a bad time for the Democrats. After this speech as America’s prospective Vice President, one thing is certain.
No one will again ask “Who is JD Vance?”
