Trump Taps Vance As Running Mate, Picking Populist Protege

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump tapped JD Vance as his running mate, elevating to the Republican presidential ticket a venture capitalist-turned-senator whose embrace of populist politics garnered national attention and made him a rising star in the party.

“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,” Trump said, making the announcement Monday on his Truth Social platform as the Republican National Convention began in Milwaukee.

The announcement comes days after a failed assassination attempt upended what had already been a chaotic presidential contest. Trump was wounded in his right ear after shots rang out at a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. One attendee was fatally shot, and two others are in critical condition. The shooter was killed by the US Secret Service.

The gunfire at the rally, shadowed by a global uptick in political violence, was a grave reminder of the importance of the vice president, who would assume the Oval Office if the president were killed or unable to fulfill the duties of the job.

Vance is 39, nearly four decades younger than Trump, 78, marking a potential generational shift for the party and offering a fresh voice to Republican efforts to bolster their appeal to the White working-class voters who were once a bedrock of the Democratic party in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Wisconsin and President Joe Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania. 

Working-Class Appeal

Biden’s handling of the economy is one of the defining issues of the campaign as the president struggles to bring back to the fold many traditional blue-collar Democratic voters who defected to Trump in 2016 and 2020 and who remain skeptical of the incumbent’s economic agenda.

The president has grappled with Americans’ discontent over high prices on everyday goods and services, after inflation hit a four-decade high. Still, the Biden years have been some of the best in decades to find work and inflation has fallen markedly from its peak in 2022. The US has also bounced back from the pandemic with stronger growth than international peers.

At home, the violence at a Pennsylvania rally is a defining moment for the race — one that is likely to turbo-charge Trump’s presidential bid and rally his supporters as the convention gets underway.

The former president has largely stayed out of the spotlight following a June 27 debate between him and Biden — keeping the media glare on the Democrat. The first debate between the two this cycle saw Biden deliver a performance that alarmed Democrats and spurred a revolt among some lawmakers and donors in the party worried the incumbent president will not be able to defeat Trump.

Vance’s selection saw Trump bypass many of the senator’s own colleagues, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida. Trump also ruled out North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a former technology executive with a strong donor base and popularity among Wall Street and business leaders.

Earlier: Vance Emerges as Ascendant Populist Pick for Trump Running Mate

Vance first drew attention in 2016 with the publication of his memoir, , which painted a stark picture of growing up poor in Ohio and spurred a national discussion on the challenges facing the White working class. He was a co-founder of Narya Capital Management LLC, a venture capital fund. 

Once a sharp critic of Trump — Vance previously called him “noxious” and accused him of “leading the White working class to a very dark place” — he eventually embraced his movement.

Trump has carried Vance’s state of Ohio easily in both of his last two presidential runs. 

Senate Career

Vance gained the former president’s endorsement to emerge from a crowded GOP pack and win an Ohio Senate seat in a competitive 2022 race. He’s been closely aligned with Trump on many issues that are paramount to the presumptive Republican nominee, including taking a tougher stance against China on trade and ramping up border security.

Isaac Boltansky, managing director of policy research at BTIG, called Vance “a true believer in Trump’s protectionist trade policies.”

“From opposition to the US Steel/Nippon deal to an openness to devaluing the dollar, Vance is in lockstep with Trump and could bring new fervor to the policy effort,” Boltansky said, adding his “protectionist positions” should play well in swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Vance has also been a vocal opponent of US funding for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. He told Bloomberg News a recent Russian missile attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv didn’t change his views.

“It’s tragic and terrible, but it doesn’t change my underlying view that America doesn’t have the capacity and doesn’t have the interest to respond to every tragedy that exists in the world,” Vance said.

The senator’s stance puts him at odds with the bulk of the Republican national security establishment as well as Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Vance has also called for dismissing scores of federal workers to replace them with Republican loyalists, saying in a 2021 interview he would “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.”

Those remarks echo proposals in Project 2025, a blueprint being crafted by some of Trump’s closest former advisers that calls for shuttering some federal agencies and replacing civil servants with officials deemed more loyal to the former president.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., advocated for Vance’s selection. The decision shows the younger Trump’s influence over his father and how he could play a role in a future Trump administration. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner held formal roles during Trump’s White House tenure, but have since shied away from involvement in his campaign.

Like other Republicans, Vance has been a staunch supporter of the former president amid his legal woes. He was the first contender from the vice presidential shortlist to appear at the Manhattan courthouse where Trump was tried and convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up a hush-money payment. 

He’s tapped his business connections to raise money for Trump, including arranging a major San Francisco fundraiser in June led by Silicon Valley investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya. 

Democrats Respond

Biden assailed Vance, questioning the Republican No. 2’s populist credentials and saying the ticket would be economically harmful to middle-class American families.

“Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance. He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich,” Biden said in a post on X.

The president’s campaign also noted Trump’s falling out with his last running mate, former President Mike Pence, over his refusal to block the certification of Biden’s election win. Protesters in the mob of Trump supporters who marched on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”

Biden campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said Trump tapped Vance because he “will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law.”

--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis and Natalia Kniazhevich.

(Updates with background on economy)

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