MILWAUKEE — Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a right-wing populist known for his unbending opinions, introduced himself Wednesday as a vice presidential candidate open to compromise and eager for unity, but unapologetically drawn to hot-button debates.
“We have a big tent in this party, on everything from national security to economic policy,” Vance told Republican National Convention delegates as he accepted their nomination to be Donald Trump’s running mate. “But my message to you, my fellow Republicans, is: We love this country, and we are united to win. And our disagreements actually make us stronger.”
Vance, 39, made the case for himself in generational terms, at one point recalling how he was in the fourth grade when President Joe Biden, then a senator, voted for a North American Free Trade Agreement that would disillusion many working-class voters. He made the case for Trump by casting him as a resilient figure in the face of criminal charges and, more recently, an assassination attempt that left the former president with a wounded right ear.
“They accused him of being a tyrant,” Vance said of Trump. “They accused him of being a tyrant. They said he must be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life. He remembered the victims of the terrible attack, especially the brave Corey Comperatore, who gave his life to protect his family. … And then President Trump flew to Milwaukee and got back to work.”
Most pointedly, Vance offered himself as the campaign’s tip of the spear in the industrial heartland — states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that the GOP hopes to pry away from Biden and the Democrats this fall. All three states received repeated mentions during his speech.
“This moment is not about me,” Vance said. “It’s about the auto worker in Michigan, wondering why out of touch politicians are destroying their jobs. It’s about the factory worker in Wisconsin, who makes things with their hands and is proud of American craftsmanship. It’s about the energy worker in Pennsylvania and Ohio, who doesn’t understand why Joe Biden is willing to buy energy from tinpot dictators across the world when he can buy it from his own citizens, right here in his own country.”
At another point, as the Ohio delegation broke out in the Ohio State University rally chant, Vance joked about his undergraduate alma mater’s rivalry with Michigan University.
“You guys, we’ve got to chill with the Ohio love,” he said. “We’ve gotta win Michigan, too.”
A Yale Law School graduate and Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war, Vance’s speech drew heavily on his childhood in Middletown, Ohio, a once-mighty steel town that, like others, has struggled to keep up with a changing economy. In his speech, Vance blamed Biden-backed policies.
“At each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Vance said.
Vance chronicled his turbulent upbringing there — including his mother’s battle with drugs — in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The film adaptation of the book earned an Academy Award nomination for Glenn Close, who portrayed Vance’s grandmother. Vance shared key pieces of his story with a much wider audience Wednesday.
“Mamaw raised me as my mother struggled with addiction,” Vance recalled. “Mamaw was in so many ways a woman of many contradictions. She loved the Lord, she was a woman of very deep Christian faith, but she also loved the f-word. I’m not kidding, she could make a sailor blush.”
Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, watched from the friends and family box, leading to one of the night’s most emotional moments.
“Our movement is about single moms like mine, who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up,” Vance said. “And I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober.”
“I love you, Mom,” he added, as the crowd erupted in chants of “JD’s mom!”
Vance was introduced by his wife, Usha, who spoke of her own backstory and shared tidbits meant to humanize her husband, like his love of puppies and the movie “Babe.”
“My background is very different from JD’s,” she said. “I grew up in San Diego in a middle-class community, with two loving parents — both immigrants from India — and a wonderful sister. That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country.”
Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for Biden’s re-election campaign, issued a statement calling Vance “unprepared, unqualified and willing to do anything Donald Trump demands.”
Trump, who watched Vance’s speech from his private box, is scheduled to formally accept the GOP presidential nomination during remarks Thursday night.
Wednesday’s theme — Make America Strong Once Again — featured parents of three U.S. military members who died as the a result of the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate during the August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, a chaotic few days that left 13 U.S. service members dead.
“There has been a deafening silence from the Biden and Harris administration,” said Alicia Lopez, whose 22-year-old son Hunter was among those who died in the Afghanistan pullout. “Despite our pleas for answers and accountability, they have pushed us away and tried to silence us.”
Hunter’s parents then read from the convention stage the names of those who were killed in the attack, with the crowd at points chanting, “Never forget.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a runner-up to Vance in the running mate race, also took the stage Wednesday.
Burgum — who in interviews this week said that Trump has been calling him “Mr. Secretary,” a signal that he may land a Cabinet post if the GOP ticket wins in November — focused on energy policy, including gas prices.
“Biden’s red tape has raised the price of the gas in your car,” Burgum said. “The cost of food on your table. The clothes on your back. And it’s even raised your rent.”
“President Trump champions innovation over regulation,” he added.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also spoke Wednesday night, at one point briefly ceding the microphone to his eldest daughter, Kai Madison Trump.
It was “heartbreaking,” Kai, 17, said of the attempted assassination of her grandfather. “A lot of people have put my grandfather through Hell, and he is still standing.”
She also provided lighter moments, calling Trump, who beamed from his seat as Kai spoke, a “normal grandpa” and recounting the time he printed out her honor roll so he could brag to a friend of his.
Trump Jr. talked of his friendship with Vance, whom he advocated for in his father’s search for a running mate.
“A kid from Appalachia and a kid from Trump Tower in Manhattan,” Trump Jr. said. “We grew up worlds apart, yet now we’re both fighting side by side to save the country we love.”