On Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday, the GOP nominee for the president and former President Donald J. Trump chose Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate. As many of you already know, I was firmly Team Byron Donalds, so Trump's choice of Vance felt anti-climatic and a bit underwhelming. Why him? I don't say this as a lament, but as a legitimate inquiry. 

Byron Donald's, Tucker Carlson, and JD Vance all standing together.

What a sight pic.twitter.com/9UKFDoCt9E

— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) July 16, 2024

I am amazed at the number of people (outside of Ohio) who have never heard of JD Vance or who have little idea about who he is. Born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, Vance made his first big entrance on the national stage with his 2016 memoir: "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis." In 2020, "Hillbilly Elegy" was adapted into a motion picture that was directed by Ron Howard. The change from his birth name to his present appellation is neither literary nor cinematic, but an alignment with the family who raised him. Vance's parents separated when he was a toddler, and he knew little of his biological father, from whom he attained his middle name. So, Vance's middle name was changed to David. When Vance became an adult, he chose to honor Jim and Bonnie Vance, the grandparents who raised him, by legally taking on their last name of Vance.

Vance's story began with living in abject poverty in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. His family moved to Middletown, Ohio, where they were able to attain a more middle-class life. His mother battled addiction to opioids for a good portion of her life, and as noted above, Vance and his sister were primarily raised by Jim and Bonnie Vance. After high school, Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq. The GI Bill allowed him to attend Ohio State University. Then he went on to Yale Law School. Vance worked as a partner in a venture capitalist firm in San Francisco before moving back to Ohio to co-found a couple of businesses. I recall an interview a few years after "Hillbilly Elegy" was published — it may have even been with Tucker Carlson during his Fox years — where Vance talked about moving back to Ohio to give his children a better life and to get back to the community that helped to shape his life. 

Vance's story is this inspirational, rags-to-riches, up-from-nothing tale that is a sharp contrast to the born into New York royalty, billionaire Donald Trump. The working-class men and women love Donald Trump, for sure, but they can see themselves and their future in JD Vance. So, his selection as VP not only deepens that working class vote, but allows him to speak to this base better than anyone about how the current administration and the global elites have disenfranchised them.  

Vance has been consistent about speaking to these concerns, before and during his Senate campaign. Darvio Morrow is an entrepreneur, producer, and co-host of "The Outlaws Radio Show" podcast. Morrow is also born, raised, and still lives in Ohio. Morrow had Vance on his podcast twice, and much of what Vance discussed centered around how to revive and energize the working class of any race or ethnicity, how the unchecked Southern border is destroying the country, and how corporate business and their collusion with China restricts freedoms and destroys America's ability to create jobs for the working class. 

JD Vance has been on @TheOutlawsRadio before. Twice. And in his first interview he said encouraging things about building a Black, White and Hispanic working class coalition. I haven’t seen as much follow through on that as I’d like but we’ll see. https://t.co/de4Wp9YvSJ https://t.co/Ul928BW0G6 pic.twitter.com/UkdGpbqXgu

— Darvio Morrow (@DTheKingpin) July 15, 2024

In that November 24, 2021, interview on "The Outlaws Radio Show" (snippet above), Vance said he was running for Senate because he was tired of complaining and decided to get into the fight. I can appreciate someone who puts their money where their mouth is. Vance said, "There's nobody really standing up for normal people." In an August 2022 Outlaws interview at CPAC, Vance echoed that same sentiment and expounded on it. "We need a whole new generation of people to get in there and fix what's going wrong."

Like Trump, Vance did not need to give up what had become a comfortable life (he married his law school sweetheart, and they have three young children) to deal with the mess in D.C. Vance responded, "It's worth it if I'm going to make a difference, and I'll only make a difference if I piss the right people off."

That line alone is probably the main reason why Vance caught Trump's attention and is now his running mate.

Much hay has been and will continue to be made of the fact that in 2016, Vance was a staunch NeverTrumper. Left-wing and political publications reported on it, particularly after Vance decided to run for Senate. Vance's senate rival, Josh Mandel, used the tweets and interviews in attack ads against him. In 2021, Vance walked back his criticisms of Trump and said he regretted it. Apparently, Trump had no issue with Vance's past views because he endorsed Vance for his Senate run.

“Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016,” Vance said. “And I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy. I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.”

Vance added that he himself had been criticized for standing up for the former president’s voters and agenda, saying, “I think that’s the most important thing, is not what you said five years ago, but whether you’re willing to stand up and take the heat and take the hits for actually defending the interests of the American people.”

Since that time, Vance has been one of Trump's most vocal supporters and has defended the GOP nominee and MAGA quite effectively, as he did in this February 2024 interview with Mr. "Bimbo Eruption" himself, "ABC News This Week's" George Stephanopoulos. 

Because of JD Vance's passion and advocacy for the American working class, he has received the full-throated approval of The Teamsters Union president Sean O'Brien, who, in an unprecedented move, was given a speaking slot at the RNC convention. Nuance is not a strong suit for either party, and labor union heads have proven to not really be on the side of the workers but on the side of protecting their positions. So, this embrace of Vance by O'Brien gives me pause. The Teamsters are a part of that very same Big Labor apparatus that has strong-armed the elected officials they endorse (mostly Democrats) to pass the PRO Act, which would destroy the independent professional and small businesses in America. Will Vance's commitment to see the working class restored be at the expense of the more than 64 million independent contractors who simply want to do the work they choose, free of union restrictions and interference?

At about 6:15 in this interview from today, the head of the Teamsters--one of the loudest #FreelanceBusting voices in America--praises GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance for his position on independent contractors.https://t.co/KFWr9LS3nD

— Kim Kavin (@thekimkavin) July 15, 2024

Vance is also one of the Republican senators who refused to sign on to the Congressional Review Act that was submitted by Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. This CRA moved to rescind the U.S. Department of Labor's final independent contractor rule, which seeks to do through regulation what Congress could not do in their failure to pass the PRO Act. Vance's words, along with his record thus far, are all we have to ascertain where he truly stands. In light of Trump's age, the fact that if he wins the election, he can only serve four more years, and most keenly, Saturday's assassination attempt against his life, it is critical to know how a President JD Vance would govern the American people.

With the legacy media already melting down over this choice, there will be much more that gets discovered and unpacked, and all Americans, Democrat, Republican, and otherwise, need to pay close attention to it.

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication to reflect that the Vances have three children rather than two.