© The Associated Press / Carolyn Kaster | Republican vice-presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
by Kristina Karisch
All eyes were on Sen. JD Vance (D-Ohio) Wednesday, as former President Trump’s newly minted vice-presidential candidate addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The first-term senator, 39, used his speech to lean into his history and decry policies he said have harmed “forgotten communities” across the country. Vance spoke about how the lessons he learned growing up in greater Appalachia shaped his populist and isolationist worldview. Bad trade deals, “disastrous” foreign wars and a drug epidemic headlined the list, with Vance taking the opportunity to draw a contrast between Trump and President Biden on each issue.
And at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Vance said. “Somehow, a real estate developer from New York by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues while Biden was wrong.”
The speech and place on the Republican ticket marked the end of a transformation for Vance, who was once a staunch critic of the former president — who will address the convention tonight to formally accept his party’s nomination. Vance delved deeply into his biography in what was his introduction on the national stage Wednesday (The Hill and The Washington Post).
As Vance prepared to take the convention stage, Biden’s reelection campaign released its first ad hitting Vance over his stance on abortion. The one-minute ad, titled “They Don’t Care,” was narrated by a Kentucky woman, Hadley Duvall, who was raped by her stepfather (The Hill).
Other notable Day 3 speakers: Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who was released from prison Wednesday morning after being sentenced on contempt of Congress charges…. Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, Thomas Homan, who oversaw parts of Trump’s family separation policy… Donald Trump Jr., Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.
- The Hill: Here are key takeaways from the third day of the Republican convention.
- The Washington Post: “A whole different world”: Inside Vance’s transition from senator to running mate.
- Politico magazine: By tapping Vance, one of the party’s leading national security doves, Trump strengthened the isolationist forces eager to undo the GOP’s long-standing hawkish consensus.
- The Wall Street Journal: Usha Vance steps into the spotlight. Vance’s Yale-educated wife is the daughter of immigrants who climbed in elite legal circles.