JD Vance touts Trump as 'America's last best hope,’ supporter of American workers
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, accepted the Republican Party's vice presidential nomination Wednesday night, touting his presidential running mate, former President Donald Trump, as "America's last best hope."
At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vance told those gathered that he was "honored" to take in the "extraordinary vision" of Trump.
The 39-year-old spoke of Trump's surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, declaring that "when Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him."
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"From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again," said Vance.
"That is, of course, until a guy named Donald J. Trump came along. President Trump represents America's last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again."
Vance, a native of Middletown, Ohio, also emphasized the importance of American workers, especially those from working-class backgrounds in the Midwest and rural parts of the nation.
"We need a leader who fights for the people who build this country," he continued. "A leader who won't sell out to multinational corporations, but will stand up for American companies and American industry."
Throughout much of his speech, Vance detailed his family life and upbringing, stating that "my most important American Dream was becoming a good husband and a good dad" and he "wanted to give my kids the things I didn't have when I was growing up."
He discussed how he was raised by his grandmother while his mother battled addiction, then pointed out his mother, who was in attendance at the convention and has been sober for nearly 10 years.
On Monday, Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he had selected Vance to be his vice presidential running mate following "lengthy deliberation and thought."
"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," stated Trump.
"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."
The bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy, Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022, defeating Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan to fill the Senate seat vacated by the retiring Republican Rob Portman.
Vance's current support for Trump represents a sharp turn from his feelings for the polarizing candidate in 2016 when he reportedly suggested Trump could be "America's Hitler" and called him an "idiot." He clarified in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity this week that his opinion changed after Trump's four years in office, calling him a "great president." Vance said he previously "bought into the media’s lies and distortions."
