J.D. Vance hit primetime on Wednesday evening, describing his rise from a forgotten corner of Ohio and promising to fight for working people all across the country if he and Donald Trump are elected in November.
His story was met with ecstatic cheers from the Republican faithful in Milwaukee, who see him as the sort of youthful figure who can secure Trump’s MAGA legacy.
But it was his mother Bev who stole the show. Her addiction, abuse and chaotic lifestyle were described in his bestselling memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’
‘Our movement is about single moms like mine, who struggled with money and addiction, but never gave up,’ he told the Republican National Convention.
‘I’m proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober.’
The crowd erupted when her face appeared on the Jumbotron, chanting: ‘J.D.’s mom, J.D.’s mom.’
Seated in Trump’s family box, she leaned across to Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, and said tearfully: ‘That’s my boy.’
It is the sort of story that the Trump campaign believes will connect with voters in working class America.
Yet even Vance admits he was not always Trump’s biggest fan. He did not vote for him in 2016 and regularly appeared in public warning against what he saw as the danger of the Republican president and even privately comparing him to Hitler.
That is all forgotten in Trump’s Republican Party of 2024, where the repentant Never Trumper might even help draw in doubters.
‘I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts,’ he told the Republican National Convention.
‘But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington.’
The 39-year-old first term senator is on a meteoric path, from hardscrabble upbringing amid the ravages of his mother’s addiction via the Marines to Yale Law School and the Senate.
But he is little known outside political circles despite a movie version of his memoir starring Glenn Close.
Wednesday was his chance to reach a bigger audience as he begins his work to win over blue-collar states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania that voted Biden in 2020.
‘Some people tell me I’ve lived the American Dream, and they are right,’ he said
‘But the American Dream that always counted most was not starting a business or becoming a senator or even being here with you fine people, it was becoming a good husband and a good dad, and of giving my family the things I never had as a kid.’
His address blamed ‘career politicians’ like Biden for trade policies that upended families like his.
‘President Trump’s vision is simple—we won’t cater to Wall Street, we’ll commit to the working man,’ he said. ‘We won’t import foreign labor, we’ll fight for American citizens.’
Nowhere on the floor was there more excitement than among the Ohio delegation. Where other delegates got up and strolled around the floor, popped out for snacks or the bathroom, the Buckeye seats were full two hours before Vance appeared.
Delegate Mike Gondinaki said the hype over Vance was real.
‘He represents the present and the future,’ he said. J.D. Vance is the future of our party. What Barack Obama was to the Democrats.
The campaign released images of his name being added to a Trump plane and some of his Senate staff were transferred over to the presidential election effort.
Vance’s tough upbringing, the son of an addict mother with an endless string of partners in southern Ohio, is a message that will connect with a broad swath of heartland America.
But he lacks political experience and was only elected to the Senate two years ago.
Still the Yale Law School graduate packs intellectual heft, and is seen as the sort of VP who could help build out Trump’s instinctive politics with a philosophical framework.
Trump ally Nigel Farage , elected earlier this month to the British parliament, said the 78-year-old former president had his eye on the future.
‘This is the Trump succession,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘This is the MAGA legacy.’
Anticipation grew all evening.
It erupted in noise when Trump himself arrived a little after 8pm, walking in to ‘It’s a Man’s World’ by James Brown with Pavarotti. It is one of his favorite songs, and he regularly plays it to guests aboard his private jet to demonstrate the power of its new sound system.
Yet Vance was to be the main event, and the evening featured nods to his Ohio home. One of the speakers was the mayor of East Palestine.
Vance had helped organize Trump’s visit there last year in the wake of a devastating train crash, that dumped thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into rivers.
Rep. Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, was another speaker. Afterwards she patrolled the floor in a shocking pink dress, attracting mostly male fans for selfies.
She said his extraordinary story would help Trump connect with voters in Joe Biden’s so called ‘blue wall’ states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But she admitted she had needed a crash course in Vance before the convention.
‘I watched Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix on Sunday night to get to know him a little bit better,’ she said.
Vance was unveiled as Trump’s running mate on Monday, triggering a whirlwind of preparations.
The Trump Campaign quickly released images of his name being pasted on to the side of a Trump-emblazoned jet. Security was stepped around his home, and some of his Senate staffers were transferred to the presidential campaign.
Another first for Vance on Wednesday was his debut Trump-Vance campaign fundraiser, at which he slammed the ‘dishonest’ media in front of 200 supporters.
‘The media keeps on saying they want somebody to tone down the temperature,’ he said.
‘Well, Donald Trump got shot and he toned down the temperature. That’s what a real leader does.’
Guests at Discovery World science center, on the Lake Michigan shore, lunched in Maine lobster rolls alongside crab and artichoke dip.
Vance brought reminders of his humble background, walking out to the banjo bluegrass of Merle Haggard’s ‘America First.’
He said he would have to be careful not to give away any details of the evening’s big speech.
‘I joked with the president that I’m very excited about this evening, and hopefully I don’t screw it up, but if I do, it’s too late. He made the bet, right? It’s official now,’ he said to laughter.