Vance is the first Ohioan to appear on a major party presidential ticket sinceJohn Bricker in1944, the first Ohio native to be elected to the vice presidency sinceCharles Dawes in1924, and the first veteran sinceAl Gore in1992.[2][3] He was also the firstMillennial, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and veteran of theIraq War and the widerWar on Terror on a presidential ticket, as well as to be elected to the vice presidency.[4][5]
In March 2022, former presidentDonald Trump announced that he would not select his former vice president,Mike Pence, as his running mate in 2024.[6]
Trump's anticipated status as thepresumptive nominee was solidified upon his victories in the Super Tuesday primaries, which sawNikki Haley, his last remaining opposition, drop out the following day. Haley refused to endorse Trump at the time, leaving her out of consideration in the view of multiple news and media outlets.[7] Trump became the presumptive nominee on March 12.[8]
Under theTwelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, members of theelectoral college cannot vote for both a presidential and a vice presidential candidate who are from the same state as themselves, to prevent states from picking afavorite son. As Trump currently resides inFlorida, the state's electors could not vote for both Trump and his running mate if the running mate also resided in Florida. In 2000, whenTexas GovernorGeorge W. Bush pickedDick Cheney, who also lived in Texas, Cheney changed his voter registration toWyoming (where he represented the state in theHouse of Representatives in the 1980s) to prevent this issue from arising with Texas' critical electoral votes.[9]
On June 21,NBC News reported the three finalists were Burgum, Rubio and Vance.[14] Burgum and Vance were said to be Trump's main focus in his running mate search, while complications were noted in Rubio as a choice due to his residency in Florida.[15] CNN also projected that Scott was the fourth finalist to be Trump's running mate.[16]
Trump had indicated that he would announce his selection during the Republican National Convention.[18] Before and during the convention, Rubio and Burgum were informed they would not be chosen.[19]
On June 22, NBC News reported that Trump had selected his vice presidential running mate, and they would "most likely" be at the debate on June 27.[20][21]
On July 8, it was reported by theAssociated Press that the unnamed vice presidential nominee already had their own plane with its fuselage empty awaiting to be decorated with the nominee's name.[22] That same day,Jason Miller stated that the reveal announcement could come in the week prior to the convention while Trump said that the announcement would come "probably a little before the convention, but not much. It could even be during the convention that we'd do it".[22]
Donald Trump selectedJD Vance as his running mate on July 15, 2024,[1] becoming the first major-party candidate to announce his running mate during his party's convention sinceGeorge H. W. Bush choseDan Quayle in1988.[23] Vance’s selection made him the firstmillennial running mate of a major party, and the 3rd youngest running mate (behindJohn C. Breckinridge, andRichard Nixon) in American history. Vance was serving his first term as senator forOhio. After he was elected as vice president, Ohio GovernorMike DeWine appointed Lieutenant GovernorJon Husted as Vance's replacement. He will serve until December 15, 2026.[24][failed verification]
One week after the Republican National Convention, Vance had a net positive rating of minus 6 points, making him the least-liked vice presidential candidate since 1980.[25] On July 22, 2024,Tim Alberta ofThe Atlantic reported that some members of Trump's inner circle even began questioning whether Vance should be replaced.[25] A number of House Republicans also criticized Vance over hisisolationist foreign policy positions, lack of experience, and inability to expand the Republican coalition beyondTrump's base.[26]
At the end of July, a 2021 interview of Vance withTucker Carlson ofFox News triggered further backlash at his selection. In the interview, then-Senate-candidate Vance complained that the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs, and "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too." He continued, stating "It's just a basic fact — you look atKamala Harris,Pete Buttigieg,AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?"[27]
His comments drew condemnation from notable figures such asJennifer Aniston, who does not have children and has been public about her fertility struggles.Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harris's step-daughter, andKerstin Emhoff, ex-wife of theSecond GentlemanDoug Emhoff, also responded to Vance's comments, stating “For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”[28]
In an appearance onThe Megyn Kelly Show, Vance responded to the controversy, stating "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats... People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance... and the substance of what I said, Megyn — I’m sorry, it is true."[28] On September 11, 2024, following the September Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, singer Taylor Swift publicly endorsed Harris. Along with the announcement, Swift posted a photo of herself holding her cat and signed her statement as "Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady".[29]
On October 1, Vance and Tim Walz participated in a 90-minute Vice Presidential debate hosted by CBS. The debate was moderated byMargaret Brennan andNorah O'Donnell.
The VP debate was broadly considered a polite and policy-focused event, in which Vance and Walz agreed with each other a lot and maintained civility throughout; after the debate, they chatted and introduced their wives to each other.[30] Columnists fromThe Washington Post andReuters commended both Vance and Walz for the high level of civility and focus on policy in the debate. According to a flash poll byCBS News andYouGov, 88 percent of viewers found the tone of the debate was "generally positive".[31]
Following the debate,The New York Times wrote that Vance delivered "one of the best debating performances by a Republican nominee for president or vice president in recent memory", making a strong case for Trump's record while also emphasizing his own personal biography, after facing weeks of attacks from the Democrats. Vance's debate performance was praised by political pundits, and he was declared the winner by columnists fromThe New York Times,[32]The Wall Street Journal,[33] theLos Angeles Times,[34]USA Today, theFinancial Times,[35] andPolitico.[36]
Speculative shortlists by Trump had included various names,[37][38] and evolved throughout the campaign. Trump's primary criterion for his running mate was loyalty, according to multiple sources.[39][40][41][42] In early 2024,Reuters reported that Trump had been encouraged by associates to consider a woman or a black man as his running mate.[43][44][45]
Reportedly in 2022, Trump had "repeatedly" discussed the possibility of choosingRepresentativeMarjorie Taylor Greene as his running mate.[46] Greene also claimed that she had been in talks with Trump to become his running mate.[47] On March 6, 2023, multiple sources close to Trump, as reported byAxios, narrowed the list down to four major contenders: Nikki Haley; GovernorSarah Huckabee Sanders ofArkansas, formerWhite House press secretary for Trump; GovernorKristi Noem ofSouth Dakota; andKari Lake, candidate forArizona governor in 2022 who lost narrowly toKatie Hobbs. On July 3, 2023,Politico reported that sources close to Sanders said that she was not interested in being chosen as the vice presidential nominee as "she intends to serve as governor for eight years."[48] On August 24, 2023, Trump in a media interview mentioned Noem, GovernorHenry McMaster ofSouth Carolina, and former primary opponent and businessmanVivek Ramaswamy as potential vice president picks.[49]
Trump acknowledged a total of six names on his vice presidential shortlist at aFox News townhall withLaura Ingraham in February 2024: Kristi Noem, Vivek Ramaswamy, GovernorRon DeSantis ofFlorida,SenatorTim Scott of South Carolina, RepresentativeByron Donalds of Florida, and former RepresentativeTulsi Gabbard ofHawaii.[50] Of those six, DeSantis declined to be considered that same month,[51] and while Ramaswamy was reportedly ruled out in March,[52] he was back in consideration by May.[53] In March, Trump estimated that there were a total of 15 people on his shortlist in an interview withNewsmax. Three additional names were reported to have been revealed: formerHUD SecretaryBen Carson, SenatorMarco Rubio of Florida, and RepresentativeElise Stefanik ofNew York.[54] In late March, four others were added to the list: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, GovernorDoug Burgum of North Dakota, SenatorKatie Britt ofAlabama, and SenatorJD Vance ofOhio.[55] The chances of Noem being selected reportedly waned in April 2024 because of her hardline stance onabortion and backlash to a revelation in her autobiography that she shot and killed her pet dog.[56][57][58] As of April 30, Sanders reportedly had "slipp[ed] down the list" for not endorsing Trump quickly enough.[59]
On July 11, 2024, it was reported thatDonald Trump Jr. would speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention preceding the vice presidential pick, prompting speculation that Vance is the selected vice presidential candidate, as he and Trump Jr. have a close relationship.[60] Trump Jr. later said "I exerted 10,000% of my political capital" to persuade his father to choose Vance: "I may get a favor from my father in like, 2076. I used it all".[61]
Theattempted assassination of Donald Trump led to speculation over its potential impact on Trump's decision on the vice presidential nominee and the manner in which the selection would be announced.[62]
^Pinto, Jennifer De; Backus, Fred; Director, Kabir Khanna; Analytics, Election; Khanna, Technical Systems Kabir; Ph.D.; Director, is; Analytics, Election; elections, Technical Systems at CBS News He analyzes (October 2, 2024)."Who won the VP debate? Here's what debate watchers said in CBS News poll - CBS News".www.cbsnews.com. RetrievedJune 24, 2025.
^abcGraham, David A. (November 21, 2022)."Trump's Veepstakes Begin".The Atlantic.Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. RetrievedNovember 21, 2022.