Vance to focus on hardscrabble roots, military service in RNC address

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trumpâ€s running-mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, is expected to recount his hardscrabble Ohio upbringing — marked by poverty and addiction — and his military service as he introduces himself and his young family to the nation at the Republican National Convention here Wednesday night, according to a person familiar with his planned remarks.

Vance — whose 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegyâ€� became a bestseller — is also expected to tick through his early business career as a venture capitalist before seeking public office in 2022 and shooting through the partyâ€s ranks to serve as Trumpâ€s vice-presidential pick after less than two years in the Senate, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.

His wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, will speak just before him.

On a night when the theme is “Make America Strong Once Again,â€� Vance — an intense 39-year-old populist and isolationist — will headline the convention stage along with several other hard-right firebrands, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), former acting national intelligence director Ric Grenell, former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and Trumpâ€s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Trump Jr. and his cadre of loyalists were instrumental in pushing Vance as Trumpâ€s No. 2, a decision Trump did not finalize until the last 24 hours before announcing him Monday. Navarro, meanwhile, traveled to Wisconsin on Wednesday from Florida, where he was released from federal prison in Miami after serving a four-month sentence for ignoring a congressional subpoena.

Thomas Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is also expected to take the stage and deliver a hard-line view of the nationâ€s undocumented immigrant problem under Biden.

Other longtime Trump allies and loyalists scheduled to speak include Kellyanne Conway, who served as a top adviser in his administration, and New Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House.

In many ways, Vance is the most ideologically and stylistically similar to Trump of the three men the former president ultimately considered for vice president, and it is unclear whether he will help Trump dramatically expand the electoral map. He could, however, arguably help Trump fortify his support in Pennsylvania, one of the three so-called Blue Wall states — which also includes Michigan and Wisconsin — that Democrats now largely believe is Bidenâ€s only path to keeping the White House.

In 2020, Biden lost White men by between 17 and 23 points, according to national exit polls and comparable surveys. But the Trump campaign is still working to increase Trumpâ€s support among this demographic; in a July Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, 54 percent of White men supported Trump to 38 percent for Biden, a 16-point margin.

Trump aides hope that Vance could help shore up support from White men like himself, and are expected to deploy him across the country in working-class and rural areas similar to where he grew up.

Vance was not always a Trump supporter. In 2016, he described Trump as either a “cynical assholeâ€� or “Americanâ€s Hitlerâ€� in a text message to a former law school classmate, and in an essay for the Atlantic magazine the same year, he called Trump “cultural heroin.â€� In an updated 2018 version of his memoir, he also revealed that he did not vote for Trump in 2016, instead opting for a third-party candidate.

But he has said he voted for Trump in 2020 and, as he sought the Senate seat, Vance quickly modulated his public and private comments about Trump, seeking out his oldest son as an ally and becoming one of the former presidentâ€s staunchest defenders.

Like previous nights of Trumpâ€s convention programming, the evening will also highlight the stories of “everyday Americans,â€� including Gold Star Families, a term for those who lost loved ones in combat. The convention will also air several videos featuring Trumpâ€s support for the military and veterans.