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JD VANCE
Trump picks JD Vance as running mate on day one of the RNC
Two days after an attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump officially became his party’s nominee on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI.
On the RNC stage, speakers painted the former president as a hero, a survivor, and a martyr. “On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle,” said South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, “but an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared! Oh yeah! He roared!”
The day was filled with surprises, from the dismissal of one of Trump’s federal indictments to the former president naming JD Vance his vice presidential pick two days earlier than expected. Trump himself even made an unexpected appearance – ear bandage and all – at the event.
On the policy front, the RNC’s first day, themed “Make America Wealthy Again,” introduced the party’s economic platform. Speakers hammered Biden for high prices and Mike Waltz, co-chair of the platform committee, said that the Trump campaign would focus on helping "the forgotten men and women of America," by “unleashing American energy” and “sending a cruise missile into the heart of inflation.”Scottand others blamed illegal immigration for “crushing American workers.”
Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien did not endorse the ticket but still received the most speaking time onstage, which he used to call for labor reform law and to attack big businesses and corporate lobby groups for “waging a war against American workers” – rhetoric that would have been unheard of before Trump steered the party toward the working class. O’Brien has hinted he may not endorse either candidate, which would be a big loss for Union Joe.
Meanwhile, Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” basked in the spotlight.
Vance was once a self-described “Never-Trumper” who believed that Trump was “leading the white working class to a very dark place.” But he has since become a vocal supporter of the former president. He supports raising tariffs and the minimum wage to empower the working class, wants to boost oil and gas production, and supports a nationwide 15-week abortion ban but also access to mifepristone, a medication used to end pregnancy.
On foreign policy, he’s been an outspoken advocate of cutting aid to Ukraine. If elected, Vance told Fox’s Sean Hannity last night that the administration “will bring this thing to a rapid close” by negotiating with Russia, rather than furthering the war effort for Ukraine. (Click here to watch what Eurasia Group's US director Jon Lieber has to say about the pick.)
By choosing a populist conservative like Vance over other potential nominees, such as multimillionaire North Dakota Gov.Doug Burgum, Sen. Tim Scott, or New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump seems to be doubling down on securing the support of white working-class voters. He decided not to use the Veep pick, in other words, to make deeper inroads with moderate, suburban, non-white, or female constituencies.
The Democrats are already trying to use that choice to their advantage. Joe Biden’s campaign adviser Jen O’Malley Dillon said on a call with reporters that Vance would “bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law.”
Following the shooting over the weekend, Vance went further than even Trump himself, directly blaming Biden’s rhetoric and his campaign for the violence. In anX post, he wrote, “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
The precise motive of the shooter is currently under investigation by the FBI, which gained access to his phone only on Monday. But some Republicans have echoed Vance’s sentiment, pointing to an instance last week when Biden said to donors “We’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
In an interview with Lester Holt Monday night, Biden said the comment was a mistake that aged poorly. He tried to steer the conversation toward his opponent’s incendiary rhetoric, like his comments in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, or following the 2017 Charlottesville rally of white supremacists, to argue that Trump is a threat to democracy.
He also made no indication he was thinking about stepping down and urged the media to stop talking about his age – a wish that may be granted this week as Americans turn their attention to the remaining three days of the RNC. Tuesday's theme is “Make America Safe Once Again” and will focus on crime, immigration, and drug trafficking.Trump's potential VP picks
Wildcards: Could Trump surprise us with his VP running mate?
Donald Trump has been teasing his vice presidential pick for weeks, but with the Republican National Convention kicking off next week, he’s likely to make it official — and soon.
Right now, the front-runners appear to be Sens. Marco Rubio and JD Vance, along with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. But what about the contenders who aren’t grabbing headlines yet remain on Trump’s radar? Here is everything you need to know about the dark-horse candidates.
Nikki Haley: We know, we know, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s former ambassador to the UN fired shots at the former president as his main opponent in the primary. But just because she once challenged him doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be a valuable running mate.
A major question for Trump’s campaign is how to win back the moderates, independents, and suburban voters who backed Haley and could swing to the Democrats.
How better than to get the woman herself on his side? That being said, although Haley ultimately threw her support behind him, Trump isn’t known for forgiveness — and her team says she wasn’t even invited to the RNC.
“Haley is Trump’s best chance at expanding the field beyond the 312 electoral votes Trump could take from the currently competitive states,” says Eurasia Groups US managing director Jon Lieber. “He won’t pick her, but if he did, it’s a chance to say this is a New Trump with an establishment Republican serving alongside him.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: The governor of Arkansas gained Trump’s trust when she served as his second White House press secretary, unwaveringly defending the former president’s decisions in the Oval Office. But at 41 and newly ascendant to political office, Sanders falls short in governing experience.
Byron Donalds: Donalds is a representative from Florida and a vocal supporter of Trump. He’s also a key surrogate in Trump’s efforts to reach Black voters. That being said, Donalds doesn’t have much of a national profile, and his MAGA politics — including outspoken support for abortion restrictions and denial of the 2020 election — could turn off independent voters.
Ivanka Trump: There have been murmurs that Trump has considered keeping it in the family and choosing his daughter Ivanka as his VP running mate. But this is likely just a rumor as Ivanka has said she won't be back for round two.
Tulsi Gabbard: Gabbard is a 41-year-old former House member from Hawaii, a veteran, and — gasp— a former Democratic congresswoman. She endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2016, mounted her own long-shot presidential campaign in 2020, and then left the Democratic Party to become an independent in 2022.
She has drawn the attention of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.and Donald Trump. Her magic is that she could attract young voters, independents, and maybe even some disenchanted Democrats to the ticket. But she is relatively unknown nationally and has a record of voting against Trump in the House.
Kristi Noem: The governor of South Dakota and former House member, came to Congress in the 2010 tea party wave. She gained notoriety in conservative circles when she refused to close South Dakota businesses during the pandemic and is tight with Trump. But her hard-line opposition to abortion could cost Trump on the campaign trail. Plus, she comes with baggage — namely, her bizarre description in her memoir of having killed her dog and a goat.
“Noem ended her national ambitions with a story in her book about killing a puppy,” says Lieber. “If there’s one thing that doesn’t play well in national politics, it’s puppy killing.”
Vivek Ramaswamy: Ramaswamy gained national attention with his campaign for president this election cycle. He is a wealthy founder of a drug investment company, which could help fund a general election campaign operation. Plus, he would bring youth to the ticket and be an energetic surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail.
But his lack of political experience — and lack of appeal to moderate voters — makes it more likely that he would be considered for a cabinet position.
Could Doug Burgum be a biz-savvy VP pick for Trump?
Who is he? The67-year-old Burgum hails from Arthur, North Dakota — a town of roughly 300 residents — and worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co before leveraging his family farm to start an accounting software company called Great Plains Software, which he sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001.
His deep pockets allowed him to self-fund an unconventional bid for governor, where he circumvented normal North Dakota Republican party processes by challenging the party’s pick after the convention, overcoming a40-point deficit in the polls.
As governor,he pushed for deregulation and lowering taxes. He oversaw North Dakota achieving the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 2%, a budget surplus, and ranking the best state to start a business according to Forbes. He’s a businessman at heart, and although he signed a restrictive abortion law, he is more comfortable discussing economic development than waging culture wars.
Why is he a front-runner? His supporters see him as a pragmatic counterweight to Trump’s inflammatory impulses and believe he could attract more independent voters to the ticket. They also argue that his business experience would help him advance Trump’s ambitious second term agenda.
He boasts a similar profile to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, another would-be VP pick and Wall Street’s preference. Both men bring stability, business sense, and appeal that can bring moderate Republicans to the table, but Youngkin has made it clear that he prefers to continue focusing on Virginia.
We will find out next week. After months of teasing the identity of his pick, Trump must eventually end the (sort-of) suspense when he accepts his party’s nomination next week at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Will Tim Scott become Trump’s No. 2?
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who withdrew from the race for the Republican nomination last November, has been campaigning hard for Donald Trump – and he has his eye on becoming vice president. But will the GOP’s only Black senator get Trump’s VP nod?
Raised by a single mom in Charleston, South Carolina, Scott became the first Black Republican elected to any office in the Palmetto State since the 19th century when he won his 1995 Charleston city council race. In 2008, he won a seat in the statehouse and went on to the House of Representatives in 2010. After one term, then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appointed him to fill a vacant Senate seat, and he has easily won reelection three times. He is arguably the most recognizable elected Black Republican in office today.
Trump recently said Scott was a “better surrogate” than a candidate thanks to the latter’s enthusiastic efforts to whip up excitement for the former president’s campaign. If Scott detected any damnation by faint praise in the remark, he certainly didn’t let it on, saying Trump was “right” when asked about the remarks on Fox.
Eurasia Group’s Jon Lieber says Scott “has a great personal story, he’s a telegenic presence, he’s inoffensive, and he has a good reputation in the Senate that comes along with relationships and domestic policy chops.” That said, Lieber isn’t convinced Scott can help Trump consolidate support with voters who aren’t sold on the former president.
Scott recently launched a $14 million campaign to help Trump make inroads with minority voters in seven swing states, which could ease concerns like Lieber’s if successful. We’re watching how it plays out, and whether Scott’s affability helps temper Trump’s hard edge with voters.
To learn about Trump’s other possible VP picks, check out our Veepstakes series here.