Trump picks one-time critic J. D. Vance, now a fierce defender, as his running mate

MILWAUKEE – Donald Trump selected Mr James David Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, as his running mate on July 15, elevating a US politician who once criticised the former president in acid terms but has since become one of his most stalwart defenders.

The news, carried on Trump’s Truth Social media website, emerged at the start of the four-day Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to nominate the party’s presidential ticket.

The selection of Mr J.D. Vance, author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, could increase the odds of Trump supporters turning out for the Nov 5 election, as the Ohio native is deeply popular with the Republican candidate’s base.

A staunch conservative from a Republican state, Mr Vance is unlikely to bring many new voters into Trump’s corner, however, and may even alienate some moderates. Some Trump supporters had pushed him to select a woman or person of colour as his No. 2 to expand a coalition that skews towards white men.

The 78-year-old former president

survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally

on July 13 by a gunman whose motive remains unknown.

Several of Trump’s highest-profile backers – including former senior adviser Steve Bannon and Trump’s eldest son, Mr Donald Trump Jr – have praised Mr Vance for pushing the Republican Party to embrace a more hands-off foreign policy approach and for supporting trade barriers.

Mr Vance has also delighted Trump supporters with his confrontational social media presence, a relative rarity in the Senate, where many lawmakers still try to maintain a sense of decorum and civility.

At 39, Mr Vance will represent a younger generation in an election that features Trump and President Joe Biden, 81, bringing a counterweight to the Democratic ticket that also includes Vice-President Kamala Harris, 59.

In selecting Mr Vance, Trump passed over other possible contenders, including senators Marco Rubio and Tim Scott and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.

Mr Vance’s rapid ascent has been unusual for American politics. After a troubled and impoverished childhood in southern Ohio, he served in the Marine Corps, won a scholarship to Yale Law School and later worked as a venture capitalist in San Francisco.

He rose to prominence after 2016 when he wrote Hillbilly Elegy, in which he explored the socioeconomic problems confronting his hometown and the cycle of poverty that had entrapped Americans in the Appalachian Mountains, where his mother and her family had their origins.

The book criticised what Mr Vance saw as a self-destructive culture in rural America and sought to explain Trump’s popularity among impoverished white Americans.

Mr Vance himself was harshly critical of Trump before and after Trump’s 2016 election win against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, calling him an “idiot” and “America’s Hitler,” among other epithets.

But as Mr Vance geared up to run for the US Senate in Ohio in 2022, he transformed into one of the former president’s most consistent defenders, supporting Trump even when some Senate colleagues declined to do so.

Mr Vance has played down

the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

He said he “doubted” Mr Mike Pence’s life was in danger, despite violent protesters getting close to the former vice-president as Secret Service agents rushed him out of the Capitol building.

Mr Vance has also echoed Trump’s criticisms of the way the Justice Department has prosecuted Jan 6 rioters, accusing the department of disregarding due process protections.

In February, he declined to criticise Trump for encouraging Russian President Vladimir Putin

to attack America’s Nato allies

if they failed to increase their defence spending.

While the Republican Party historically stood for free markets and embraced foreign intervention as an important national security tool, Trump’s 2016 election opened up significant rifts within the party. Mr Vance has been one of the most vocal opponents of continued aid to Ukraine in the Senate, a stance at odds with many Republican legislative leaders.

On the campaign trail, the former venture capitalist has also served as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election.

Still, Mr Vance’s selection has its detractors among Trump associates, notably those who had wanted Trump to select a diverse vice-presidential candidate. Though Trump and Mr Biden are virtually tied in most national polls, Trump trails the Democratic president by significant margins among women and black Americans.

Some Trump associates privately questioned whether it would be wise to take Mr Vance out of the Senate with Democrats and Republicans vying for control of the upper chamber. Democrats hold a one-seat advantage, though they are likely to lose ground in the November election.

Ohio, while safely Republican in presidential elections, does occasionally elect Democrats in other races. Mr Vance won his 2022 election by six percentage points. AFP