Who is James David (JD) Vance?
At 40-years-old, J.D. Vance is the youngest person to be a vice-presidential candidate. Born James Donald Bowman into a home of drug addiction and abuse. His parents divorced when he was a toddler and he and his sister Lindsay were raised in the home of his maternal grandparents, from whence he adopted and later changed his name to Vance. After graduating from high school in Ohio, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served four-years as a military journalist, being deploying to Iraq in 2005, for six months. Using his G.I. Bill, he enrolled in Ohio State University, graduating summa cum laude, in two years, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in political science and philosophy. He then attended Yale Law School and earned his Juris Doctor degree in 2013. After graduation, he worked for Republican Senator John Cornyn and then clerked for the U.S. District Court in Kentucky. Vance vocally opposed the Trump candidacy of 2016. After briefly practicing corporate law, Vance worked as a venture capitalist.
Also in 2016, Vance published his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, telling of the Appalachian culture of his childhood and the struggles of his mother’s drug addiction. In 2020, his story was made into a movie of the same name. The left calls Vance a “false prophet of blue America.”
In 2022, he was elected to the U.S. Senate for Ohio. After observing Trump’s first term, he reversed his opinion of President Trump, endorsing his second candidacy. Vance describes himself as a postliberal, meaning his political and social values changed after becoming a confirmed Catholic-Christian. Others describe him as a populist and national conservative. He opposes abortion, with exceptions of rape and incest, gun control, same-sex marriage and American military aid to Ukraine.
In the Senate
He serves on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Senate Special Committee on Aging. He has sponsored 57 bills and cosponsored 289. He cosponsored a bill with Senator Ralph Warnock (D-GA) to lower the price of insulin. He voted against raising the debt ceiling of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Bills he sponsored are for getting seniors quicker access to medical care, E-verification of employment eligibility, proof of citizenship to vote, dismantle DEI programs in government, funding of the East Palestine derailment damage, limiting government surveillance of American citizens, restricting the Chinese government access to US capital markets, election integrity and a requirement for ICE to detain and deport illegal aliens who commit theft and other crimes.
In 2021, he made his now-infamous “cat lady” comment about childless women, which was resurrected when he was nominated for vice-president. He explained his remarks on the Megyn Kelly Show, saying, “It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children [It] is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.” He has said that being “pro-babies and pro-family” should be the Republican Party’s highest priority.
Editorial comments:
By graduating from college summa cum laude with a double major in two years, it is obvious Vance is a smart and motivated individual. No doubt his desire to achieve came in his childhood after observing the poverty of Appalachia and the toll of his mother’s drug addiction. Being without family means, he smartly entered military service to obtain V.A. college benefits. Through his OSU academic achievement, he was an easy candidate for Yale Law. His drive to overcome has caught the attention of many influential mentors who have helped Vance to become the promise of tomorrow, in America. His postliberal Christian commitment scares some on the left who feel postliberals want to displace the elite in academia, religion and government with conservative leadership and values. The postliberal movement teaches people to think, not telling them what to think, as has been the case in education for the past thirty-years. It also speaks to removing DEI from government protocols, replacing it with qualified employees, without consideration of ethnicity or gender. Trump was encouraged by numerous advisors to select Vance as his vice-president candidate. Vance has been visible in the media as a CNN and Fox News contributor and appeared on numerous network shows. The Wall Street Journal says, he makes a better case for Trump, than Trump. After the Walz-Vance debate, it is easy to see he is more qualified in all areas to be vice president and should the need arise, president than Tim Walz. A spokesperson for the Democrat Party of New Mexico categorized Vance as a schoolyard bully who would steal your lunch money. Such is life in politics.