J.D. Vance gained national fame in 2016 when he published his bestselling memoir. Hillbilly ElegyHe spoke about growing up in a white working-class American household. At the time, he described himself as “a guy who would never support Trump.”
Eight years later, Vance has become a Republican senator and one of Donald Trump’s most staunch defenders. A frequent television surrogate for the Trump campaign, he is widely seen as a leading candidate to be Trump’s running mate in 2024.
Trump has not said who he will pick as his vice presidential candidate but is expected to announce it within the next few days. The Republican National Convention begins on Monday, when delegates will formally nominate the presidential candidate.
Trump has also signaled he would consider choosing North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate, but speculation that he might choose Vance intensified this week after Axios reported that Donald Trump Jr. would speak at the convention just before his father’s running mate. Vance is a close friend of Trump’s, with whom he exchanges emails almost daily, according to a person familiar with their relationship.
But the candidate said Friday that he plans to end his search for a vice presidential candidate ” apprenticeThe former president suggested on a radio talk show that he was still considering “four or five” candidates, and said he was “hoping” to announce his selection “either during the convention or shortly before the convention, like on Monday.”
Representatives for the Trump campaign and Vance did not respond to requests for comment.
Vance’s possible ascension to the presidency would represent a remarkable ascension for the 39-year-old Marine veteran and Yale Law School graduate who worked in venture capital before turning to politics. It’s also another example of Republicans going from “anti-Trump” to staunch supporters, and a glimpse into what the MAGA movement, and the Republican Party as a whole, might look like in a post-Trump era.
Vance, who advocates an isolationist foreign policy and has been one of the most vocal Republican opponents of expanding US aid to Ukraine, has also come under fire for his support of President Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, saying that if he were a senator at the time, he would have voted against certifying the results of the January 6, 2021 election.
But it’s Mr. Vance’s economic populism that’s dividing the business community. Mr. Vance, whose 2022 Senate campaign was partly funded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, has ardent supporters in Silicon Valley. He helped organize a high-profile fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco last month, hosted by tech investors David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya.
But his ideological approach has raised alarms among more traditional Republicans on Wall Street and elsewhere, who worry the Ohio senator could be in a position to woo President Trump and shape the party’s platform for years to come.
“We are very concerned that J.D. Vance will play an excessive role in the Trump administration,” said one lobbyist for a major bank. “Trump’s populism is not the same as Vance’s populism.”
“He embodies populist thinking, is clearly smart and is the future of the party,” said another financial-services industry lobbyist, describing Vance as a “powerhouse of an intellectual.”
“He represents something in this country that coastal elites and big corporations have failed to recognize for so long,” the lobbyist added, seemingly referring to Vance’s ability to channel working-class anger and disenfranchisement.
Vance has advocated for protectionist trade policies, tougher immigration laws, a higher minimum wage and a more aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement. He made headlines earlier this year when he called Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan “doing a pretty good job” as one of Biden’s top administration officials.
Such comments have especially unsettled investors. One top New York dealmaker said picking Vance as vice president “would not be reassuring for the business community and could signal an anti-M&A stance for a second Trump administration.”
One private equity investor said there was “no question” that Trump was “better.” [than Joe Biden] “He’s a win-win for Wall Street and the broader business community,” he said, but added, “He needs to stick to pro-business policies and he’ll win. He doesn’t need a Republican Bernie Sanders.”
Those close to Vance have pushed back against comparisons between the Ohio senator and Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist and longtime leader on the left.
“Vance doesn’t hate capitalism. He doesn’t hate business. He loves capitalism. He loves creation. It’s not a nostalgia like Sherrod Brown or Bernie Sanders. It’s not a yearning for a static society,” one longtime friend said of the Ohio Democratic senator.
Mark Kvamme, an Ohio venture capitalist who has raised money for Vance, described the senator as a “businessman” and a “clear thinker.”
“Some people see him as an ideologue. I don’t see it that way at all. I see him as someone who thinks through issues thoroughly,” Kvamme said. “He’s a very methodical person.”
Those same allies defended Vance’s transformation from Trump critic to Trump supporter. Hillbilly Elegy Once revered by coastal elites, the author remained an ally of the white working-class community in which he grew up.
“He’s always seen himself as someone who wants to fight for the working class, not the elites,” said a Republican activist close to Vance.
Additional reporting by Brooke Masters and James Fontanella Kahn in New York
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