Although the Republican vice presidential nominee is only a freshman senator, she has years of experience outside of politics and is likely to help the Republican candidate win the presidential election in November.
Former President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Ohio State’s J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance is the New York Times bestselling author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a Yale Law School graduate and former Marine who was recently elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022.
“I have determined that the person best qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“JD has had a very successful business career in technology and finance,” the former president added.
J.D. Vance’s response to the East Palestine derailment was the first memorable action by an Ohio senator.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and J.D. Vance address supporters during a rally at Dayton International Airport on November 7, 2022 in Vandalia, Ohio. (Drew Ungerer/Getty Images)
But before his political career, Vance was a successful venture capitalist. Yahoo Finance reported Vance’s Silicon Valley connections helped him first bring investor money to his home state of Ohio, then helped him raise money for his Senate campaign and have already helped him donate to the Trump campaign, the people said.
According to the outlet, after graduating from Yale Law School in 2013, Vance moved to San Francisco and worked for Mithril Capital, a firm co-founded by former PayPal CEO and Republican donor Peter Thiel.
Pro-life groups endorse Trump’s running mate JD Vance, despite his support for “accessible” abortion pills.
Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, President Trump’s nominee for vice president, arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Vance also worked near the nation’s capital earlier in his career at former AOL CEO Steve Case’s venture capital firm, Revolution LLC, where he led efforts to expand capital opportunities to small towns like Vance’s hometown of Middletown, Ohio, Yahoo noted.
“J.D. Vance is the perfect person to help expand Rise of the Rest because he represents people across the country who feel left behind,” Case said in 2017, according to the outlet.
In 2020, Vance launched his own Cincinnati-based fund, reportedly backed by Marc Andreessen, Eric Schmidt and Scott Dorsey, which Yahoo said was created to direct big East Coast dollars to investment opportunities in states like Ohio.
Earlier this year, Mr. Vance helped organize a fundraiser for Mr. Trump’s campaign with billionaire investor David Sachs. The event, held at Mr. Sachs’ home, marked Mr. Trump’s first visit to San Francisco in years and raised a $12 million boost for Mr. Trump’s reelection coffers.
Republicans praise Trump’s nominee J.D. Vance as ‘opponent of endless wars’
“Make America Prosperous Again” signs are handed out to delegates during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Monday, July 15, 2024. (Hannah Beyer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In June, Vance gave an interview to Fox News’ Lawrence Jones, in which he was asked what a “J.D. Vance economy” would look like.
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“There are a lot more manufacturing jobs out there than we have today,” he said. “If you look at the economies that are really thriving, they have a strong manufacturing base. They develop their own energy.”
