Scroll Top

JD Vance is Trump’s VP pick after Rubio and Burgum were passed over for running mate


Trump's VP pick is Sen. JD Vance

Donald Trump has selected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his presidential running mate, ending months of speculation about the presumptive Republican nominee’s choice to help him challenge President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post.

Two other top Republican contenders, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, were told earlier that they would not be picked as Trump’s VP, NBC News reported.

(L-R) J.D. Vance, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, shakes hands with former President Donald Trump during a rally hosted by the former president at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on April 23, 2022 in Delaware, Ohio. 

Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The selection provides a sudden, massive jolt in stature for the 39-year-old Vance, who joined the Senate as a political newcomer less than two years ago.

Vance gained fame in 2016 through his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which traced his rural upbringing in Ohio and mused on the culture and politics of Appalachia.

While not without its critics, the book quickly earned Vance a reputation as a trenchant political analyst who, despite an Ivy League education, possessed a unique sense of how the White working class viewed the rest of the country.

Before entering politics, Vance was a major Trump critic, slamming him as a “total fraud” and even comparing him and his MAGA political movement to a harmful drug.

“Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein,” Vance wrote in The Atlantic before Trump won the 2016 election.

But as a politician, Vance has morphed into one of the most loyal and extreme backers of both Trump and his brand of nationalist, populist politics.

This combination photo shows, from left, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

AP

Vance, and other veepstakes contenders, had appeared outside of Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York City to decry the prosecution of the presumptive Republican nominee.

He later claimed the trial was “election interference,” and that its “main goal” was “psychological torture” against Trump. The jury in that trial convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records; Trump is currently set to be sentenced on Sept. 18.

Trump’s VP announcement came in the middle of a deluge of major national news — including a failed assassination attempt against the former president at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

The attack, which left one rally attendee dead and Trump with a minor injury, sent shockwaves across the country and spurred condemnations of violence across the political aisle.

Biden, in an Oval Office address after the Trump rally shooting, urged Americans to lower the temperature of political rhetoric and reaffirm the democratic norms of civil disagreement and decency.

Meanwhile, Trump’s bevy of legal battles were shaken up Monday morning, when federal Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the criminal case charging the former president with illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Privacy Preferences
When you visit our website, it may store information through your browser from specific services, usually in form of cookies. Here you can change your privacy preferences. Please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our website and the services we offer.