MILWAUKEE — Introducing himself to the nation after being chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance used his speech Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention to share his personal story and assert that his party best understands the challenges facing Americans.
Senator James David Vance on Wednesday accepted Donald Trump’s nomination to join him as the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate and urged his fellow Americans to “choose a new path.”
“I am overwhelmed with gratitude and I officially accept your nomination,” Vance said during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on a night he described as one of “hope, celebration of what America has been and what it will soon be again.”
First speech as vice presidential candidate
The 39-year-old Ohio senator, making his first prime-time address since becoming the vice presidential nominee, spoke of his childhood in poverty in Kentucky and Ohio, and how he later enlisted in the military and rose to the highest levels of U.S. politics.
“Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed I would be standing here tonight,” he told the crowd.
Vance made a direct appeal to voters in industrial states that helped propel Trump to victory in 2016, saying he understood the anger and frustration of millions of people in those parts of the country.
“In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states all over the country, jobs were shipped overseas and children were sent to war,” he said.
Trump’s Courage
Vance praised former President Trump’s bravery after he survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.
“I thought we had just lost a great president, which would be terrible for our country… But he stood up a minute after he was shot, with his fist raised and saying ‘Fight, fight, fight!'” Vance recalled.
“Was he angry? He called for national unity. He called for calm. He showed leadership and the media keeps saying they want someone to tone it down. Donald Trump was shot and he tone it down. That’s what a true leader does,” he added.
Vance said that “the media has lied more aggressively and slanderously” about Trump, but “he keeps going, he keeps persevering and fighting.”
Ex-marine and lawyer
Raised in a struggling industrial region of the United States, Vance joined the Marine Corps and later trained as a lawyer at Yale. He spent time in Silicon Valley and in 2022 won election as senator for Ohio, with Trump’s backing.
The conservative from Ohio, who turns 40 next month, would be the third-youngest vice president in history if Trump wins in November.
Vance was a vocal critic of Trump when the billionaire was campaigning for president in 2016. Now he is one of the strongest defenders of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement and platform.
The Republican vice presidential candidate said a potential Republican administration would focus on defending the working class rather than business groups.
“We’re done catering to Wall Street. We’re going to engage with the working people,” he told delegates at the Republican Convention, accusing President Joe Biden of making the United States “weaker and poorer.”
Source: With information from AFP and AP.