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JD Vance

Vice President of the United States since 2025

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Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, and grew up in an unstable, low-income family. After graduating from Middletown High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003, and served as a military journalist in public affairs until 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. After a brief career in corporate law, he worked for Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Mithril Capital.

Vance rose to national prominence with his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which received widespread attention as scholars and journalists sought to understand white working-class disaffection after Donald Trump's election. The book spoke to a broader political realignment sweeping post-industrial Appalachia and the Midwest, and was adapted into a film in 2020. He grew up a Protestant, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 2019. Vance was originally critical of Trump's candidacy, but became a strong supporter while running for Senate. He was elected to the Senate in 2022, defeating Democratic nominee Tim Ryan in the general election after winning a crowded Republican primary with Trump's endorsement.

Vance was selected as Trump's running mate in the 2024 presidential election and resigned from the Senate before his inauguration as vice president. He became the first Marine Corps veteran, the first Iraq War veteran, and first millennial in U.S. history to serve as vice president. During his tenure as vice president, he has also served as finance chair of the Republican National Committee. He has been described as a national conservative and right-wing populist, aligning himself with the "postliberal" New Right movement.

Vance opposes immigration, abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun control. He is also an outspoken critic of childlessness. While Vance often cites Catholic theology as an influence on his views, both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV have criticized him for misrepresenting church teachings. Vance has also been a strong supporter of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

Early life and education

Vance was born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, the city in which he was also raised. His mother is Beverly Carol Aikins (née Vance), and his father was Donald Ray Bowman (1959–2023); they divorced when he was a toddler. Vance wrote in his book Hillbilly Elegy that he was of Scots-Irish descent. He grew up in an Appalachian American culture, spending summers with relatives in Jackson, Kentucky.

Vance attended Roosevelt Elementary School and Vail Middle School, which were demolished in 2008 and 2012, respectively. He briefly attended West Elkton Elementary School for fourth grade. Vance has written that his childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, and that his mother struggled with drug addiction. She worked as a registered nurse when Vance was a toddler, where she reportedly got addicted to pharmaceutical drugs after one of her co-workers offered her Vicodin for a headache. Soon thereafter, she was fired and lost her nursing license after she got caught stealing morphine. He and his elder sister, Lindsay, were raised primarily by their maternal grandparents, James Lee Vance (1929–1997) and Bonnie Eloise Blanton (1933–2005), whom they called "Papaw" and "Mamaw". In 1990, after he was adopted by his mother's third husband, Bob Hamel, his mother changed his name to James David Hamel to remove his biological father's first name and surname and to use an uncle's first name, David. Vance therefore kept his first name and his nickname, JD. He eventually changed his surname to his mother's maiden name, Vance, in April 2013.

Vance attended Middletown High School from 1999 until he graduated in 2003 with an honors diploma. In 2007, he began studying at Ohio State University, where he graduated with highest honors in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and philosophy. In 2010, Vance entered Yale Law School, where he won a staff position on The Yale Law Journal and worked with a group of its editors who primarily checked citations. Vance's future wife was the journal's executive developmental editor. At Yale, he befriended fellow Ohio native and future Republican politician Vivek Ramaswamy. During his first year, Professor Amy Chua persuaded Vance to begin writing his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.

Vance also initiated a rapport with Peter Thiel after attending his 2011 talk at Yale. In 2010–2011, Vance wrote for David Frum's "FrumForum" website under the name J. D. Hamel. Although Hillbilly Elegy says he adopted his grandparents' surname of Vance upon his marriage in 2014, the name change actually occurred in April 2013 (his full name therefore changing to James David Vance), as he was about to graduate from Yale. Vance obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in May 2013 and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky later that year.

Military service

After graduating from high school, Vance enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a private, serving as a combat correspondent (military journalist) with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. During his four years of service, he was deployed to Iraq in 2005 for six months in a non-combat role, writing articles and taking photographs. In December 2005, he was part of a group of Marines that held a roundtable discussion with Vice President Dick Cheney. He attained the rank of corporal, and his decorations include the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. In 2007, Vance left the military and used the G. I. Bill to study at Ohio State.

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