A member of the Republican Party, he has served since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Ohio. Upon assuming office, Vance will be the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history and the first to be born in the Millennial generation.
After high school, Vance joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served as a military journalist from 2003 to 2007, and deployed to Iraq for six months in 2005.
He graduated from Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in 2009 and Yale Law School with a law degree in 2013.
He practiced briefly as a corporate lawyer before embarking on a career in the tech industry as a venture capitalist. His memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was published in 2016 and adapted into a film in 2020.
Vance won the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio, defeating Democratic nominee Tim Ryan.
After initially opposing Donald Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance became a strong Trump supporter during Trump’s first presidency.
Vice President Nominee Senator JD Vance speaks at the Republican National Convention.
In July 2024, Trump selected Vance as his running mate before the Republican National Convention.
Vance has been characterized as a national conservative and right-wing populist, and he describes himself as a member of the postliberal right.
His political positions include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, gun control, and American military aid to Ukraine.
Vance is an outspoken critic of childlessness and has acknowledged Catholic theology’s influence on his sociopolitical positions.