JD Vance's journey from Trump critic to VP short list

Over the past few years, first-term Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) has emerged as a prominent voice in the MAGA movement and a vocal advocate for Donald Trump's political agenda. At one point, he was a vocal critic of the former president. Now, he is one of the top contenders for Trump's running mate in his upcoming presidential bid. 

The long-awaited announcement of his vice presidential pick could happen sometime this week, said senior Trump adviser Jason Miller. "By this time next Monday, we will know who President Trump has selected as his running mate for the 2024 election," Miller said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. With the decision looming, the spotlight remains on Vance as one of the top candidates. 

From a 'Never Trump guy' to a MAGA mouthpiece

Before he became a senator, Vance was a venture capitalist who was best known for writing the 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," in which he talks about growing up in Ohio. The memoir of his "hardscrabble upbringing" became popular because it "seemed to explain the Rust Belt's unexpected swing to Trump," The Wall Street Journal said. The book earned him fame and status as a public intellectual, but he used to be openly anti-Trump. At one point, he allegedly said Trump could be "America's Hitler" in old text messages released in 2022. In 2016, Vance called himself a "Never Trump guy" and referred to Trump as an "idiot" in tweets, Politico said.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Though he was previously critical of Trump, Vance has since changed his tune to support the former president. In a 2021 interview with Time magazine, Vance explained what made him change his mind. "I sort of got Trump's issues from the beginning," he said. "I just thought that this guy was not serious." He considered Trump "the leader of this movement, and if I actually care about these people and the things I say I care about, I need to just suck it up and support him," Vance said.  

When he ran for Senate in 2022, Trump endorsed him. Vance "may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now," Trump said at the time. Vance defeated Democratic congressman Tim Ryan by a large margin for the Ohio Senate seat. 

Should Trump pick him for the VP post?

Vance's turnaround and alignment with Trump's vision for the country have earned him a spot on the short list of his potential running mates. He joins Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), whose names have been floated as possible picks.  Some of the far right's most prominent influencers are "lobbying Trump to pick Vance," The Wall Street Journal said, "including the right-wing podcaster and current federal inmate Steve Bannon," Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Tapping Vance to fill the vice president role would be a "sign of Trump's commitment to his own voters," Carlson said. 

Only some are convinced Vance is the right man for the job. Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who left the Republican Party and became a Trump critic, said Vance was "completely unqualified" to be the former president's running mate in an interview with MSNBC. "As a country, we should want somebody qualified to serve,"  he said. "And I think Rubio, Burgum, whatever you think of their ideology, check that box." 

For his part, Vance said he'd let the media know if he got the call to join Trump's ticket. "But most importantly, we're just trying to work to elect Donald Trump," he said to NBC News.  "Whoever his vice president is, he's got a lot of good people he could choose from."