(AFP) – J.D. Vance was set to star at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday in his first address as vice-presidential nominee — completing a meteoric rise from humble midwestern beginnings to a coveted spot on Donald Trump’s ticket.
Trump tapped the Ohio senator to be his number two at the convention in Milwaukee on Monday as the ex-president bids for a stunning return to the White House, four years after losing to President Joe Biden.
The one-term senator, who turns just 40 next month, would be the third-youngest vice president in history — and one of the least experienced — if 78-year-old Trump prevails in his rematch against Biden in November.
Vance was an uncompromising “Never Trumper” at the time of his new boss’s election win in 2016, labeling the populist, hard-right tycoon “a moral disaster” and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
He reinvented himself when he entered politics and ultimately won Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 Ohio Senate race.
Vance has since grown into cheerleader-in-chief for Trump’s brand of conservative social values, anti-immigrant rhetoric and isolationist foreign policy — notably including opposition to US support for Ukraine’s war against Russian invasion.
“I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. But President Trump was a great president, and he changed my mind,” Vance told Fox News.
His speech was expected to come late in Milwaukee, but there was no set time announced.
– Unknown quantity –
Despite making his name with the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling account of his Appalachian family and modest Rust Belt upbringing, Vance remains something of an unknown quantity to the wider public.
He is already a hit with the party faithful in Milwaukee, who rewarded him with a rowdy ovation as he stepped on the convention floor with his wife, Usha, on Monday.
While Vance reinforces Trump’s appeal to the hardline base, he offers little chance of expanding the ticket’s appeal to more moderate voters and women.
He is further to the right than Trump on some issues including abortion, where he embraces calls for federal legislation.
“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump touted on his social media platform Truth Social.
Some 50,000 Republicans have descended on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day Republican National Convention, which comes as the country reels from the botched attempt by a gunman to kill Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The attack — which killed one bystander and left the ex-president with a bloodied ear — has dominated proceedings, with the opening day’s highlight an appearance from a defiant Trump sporting a bandage on his right ear.
– Unity ‘essential’ –
The Republican convention has emphasized party unity behind Trump, banishing the torrent of scandals that range from his role in attempts to overturn the 2020 election to his criminal conviction in a New York court this May.
However, Trump’s once ultra-loyal vice president from 2016-2020, Mike Pence, has refused to give his endorsement and was not at the convention.
And while Trump said after surviving last weekend’s shooting that he hoped to “unite our country,” Vance is one of the most partisan and divisive members of Congress.
True to form, Vance immediately claimed after the shooting that Democrats’ rhetoric had “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
The unity message was pushed hard on Tuesday, where several of Trump’s defeated primary rivals lined up to offer praise.
Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador under Trump before temporarily turning against him, was greeted with muted applause and a smattering of boos. She told delegates “a unified Republican Party is essential.”
The Republican leader is set to formally accept his party’s nomination with the hotly anticipated keynote address on Thursday. – Frankie TAGGART
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