How Trump landed on Vance in the VP race

MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump spent months building suspense around his running mate choice, teasing a lengthy short list, narrowing it, then toying with an “Apprentice-style reveal at the Republican National Convention.

On Monday, Trump informed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) to inform them they were not going to be joining the ticket. 

Trump phoned Sen. J.D. Vance, the first-term senator, to offer him the role of vice president. Twenty minutes later, Trump let the world know.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump had publicly acknowledged he was considering Vance, Rubio, Burgum and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Trump in recent days had described Rubio’s Florida residency as an issue that could cause problems because of constitutional rules around a ticket featuring candidates from the same state. He also called Burgum signing a strict abortion law as governor as potentially problematic.

Vance traveled with Trump regularly in recent months, swatting away talk of joining the Republican ticket even as he showcased why he could be a valuable running mate.

The senator attended Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan in May to show attack the prosecution as political and was a near constant presence on television while Trump was in court. The former president was later convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Vance has joined Trump at rallies this year, and he has attended fundraisers and helped connect the former president to deep-pocketed donors in Silicon Valley, such as tech entrepreneur David Sacks. Trump polled supporters at an Ohio fundraiser last month whether he should choose the senator as his running mate.

Boosting Vance’s cause throughout the “veepstakes” were high-profile allies in Trump’s orbit with significant reach.

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, was a Vance fan during the process. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was also a Vance booster. And perhaps most notably, Donald Trump Jr. had pushed for his father to select the Ohio senator.

“I think everyone knows I’ve been pretty vocal about that one,” Trump Jr. said Monday on the convention floor. “I couldn’t be happier.”

When Vance burst onto the national scene following the publication of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” he was not the vociferous Trump ally he is today. Vance called Trump “noxious,” “an idiot,” and “cultural heroin” that offered “a simple solution to every complex problem.”

But when Vance ran for an open Senate seat, he managed to secure Trump’s endorsement despite his previous comments. Aides to both men said it went a long way that Vance has been forthcoming about his evolution on the former president, acknowledging in interviews that he was “wrong” about Trump early in his presidency.

“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump said in April 2022 when he endorsed Vance in a bitter primary fight.

Vance has since become one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in the Senate, taking on combative interviews on networks like CNN and CBS, and promoting the “America First” ideology that Trump championed while he was in the White House. He has been among the most outspoken Republican lawmakers opposing continued U.S. aid to Ukraine, questioning how Kyiv can actually win its war against Russia.

“On policy they have a lot of synergies and places where they have common ground,” said one Vance ally. “I think that’s the obvious one.”

The Vance ally also argued that Trump appreciates that the senator “doesn’t have any fear. He’s not the typical politician like, ‘I have to figure out where I should be on something.’”

One Republican official told The Hill that Vance articulates a populist agenda “as well as anyone who I’ve met in the country.”

Republican delegates formally nominated Vance as their vice presidential candidate on Monday afternoon. He walked onto the convention floor, joined by his wife, Usha, to chants of “JD” as an on-the-nose song selection blared over the speakers at Fiserv Forum: “America First,” by Merle Haggard.

“Why don’t we liberate these United States, We’re the ones need it the worst,” the song went. “Let the rest of the world help us for a change, And let’s rebuild America first.”

Mychael Schnell contributed.