Trump Names J.D. Vance as Running Mate

Donald Trump has named US Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, further elevating the Ohio Republican who has adopted the former president’s populist agenda after years of pointed criticism of Trump.

Trump’s selection came on the first day of the Republican National Convention and just two days after he survived an assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. On the floor of the convention, shortly after news of Vance’s selection broke, delegates celebrating the party’s ticket were writing Vance’s name onto Trump signs using markers.

Trump called Vance to officially offer him the spot 20 minutes before the former president made the announcement on Truth Social, a source familiar with the process said. The two had met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, before the rally at which Trump was shot in the ear.

Ahead of Trump’s selection of Vance, the Ohio senator’s supporters, including Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and conservative media figure Tucker Carlson, had argued that Vance has the strongest relationship with Trump of a group of finalists that also included Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and would be the most loyal selection, multiple sources familiar with the discussions said.

They made the case that Vance can appeal to working-class voters viewed as essential to winning the key battleground states in November, given his upbringing in a poor Rust Belt town in Ohio. They also pointed to his wife, Usha Chilukuri — the child of Indian immigrants — as being someone who could appeal to minority voters, the sources said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, on the convention floor, described Trump’s selection of Vance as “a great day for Ohio.”