(RepublicanNews.org) – Former President Donald Trump finally announced his vice president running mate, and although some expected the choice, others were surprised that Trump did not pick someone more notable.
On Monday, July 15, Trump announced Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate just as the Republican National Convention (RNC) kicked off on the same day. The announcement was highly anticipated after months of speculation about who Trump would select. Some of the other possible choices included entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Shortly before the RNC formally announced Trump as the official presidential nominee for the GOP, the former president posted an announcement on his Truth Social page that Vance would be his vice president. Trump said he deliberated and thought at length before choosing Vance, and that he also considered many others who he said had “tremendous talent,” before deciding on the Ohio senator as “the person best suited” for the job.
Trump noted Vance’s military background, as well as his education from Ohio State, where he graduated with honors, and from Yale Law School, where Vance worked as an editor for The Yale Law Journal and served as the Yale Law Veterans Association president. Trump then praised Vance’s bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” for championing America’s “hardworking men and women” from rural Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states.
After serving in the Iraq War and finishing school, Vance worked under Peter Thiel at a venture capital firm in San Francisco. Thiel went on to finance Vance’s Senate campaign in 2020.
In 2016, Vance ran for president himself and was originally a critic of the former president, who won the election that year. Vance eventually changed his mind about Trump and became an enthusiastic supporter, admitting that he “was wrong” about him and didn’t believe he would turn out to be “a good president.”
Vance may have had a strong recommendation from Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, who is close friends with the Senator and has described him as “a young Abraham Lincoln.”
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