J. D. Vance
J. D. Vance is an American politician, author, and venture capitalist, notable for his rise from a challenging upbringing in Ohio and Kentucky to significant political influence. He gained widespread recognition with his 2016 memoir, *Hillbilly Elegy*, which reflects on his experiences growing up in a tumultuous environment and offers insights into the struggles of working-class communities in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. Following his education at Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal, Vance transitioned into a successful career in law and venture capital.
In 2022, he was elected as a Republican senator from Ohio, aligning himself closely with former President Donald Trump’s policies and ideology. His political career has been marked by his advocacy for nationalist populism, a critical stance on immigration, and occasional bipartisan efforts on relevant issues like infrastructure safety. In July 2024, Vance was selected as Trump’s running mate for the presidential election, subsequently becoming vice president of the United States after their victory in November 2024. Vance maintains a personal life rooted in family values, being married with three children and having converted to Catholicism.
Subject Terms
J. D. Vance
Politician, writer, investor
- Born: August 2, 1984
- Place of Birth: Middletown, Ohio
J. D. Vance rose to fame with his best-selling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which describes his path from a hardscrabble upbringing to success at Yale Law School while offering social commentary on working-class culture in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. He also worked as a law clerk and a venture capitalist before turning to politics. After aligning himself with the ideology of former president Donald Trump, Vance was elected to the US Senate from his home state of Ohio in 2022. After being selected as Trump's running mate for the 2024 presidential election, he was elected vice president of the United States in November 2024.
Background
J. D. Vance was born in 1984 and grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and Jackson, Kentucky. His family life was dysfunctional and chaotic. After his parents separated and his father left when he was a toddler, his mother remarried several times and struggled with drug abuse. In tenth grade, Vance moved in with his maternal grandparents, who had moved from the Appalachian town of Jackson to Middletown in the late 1940s in an attempt to escape a life of poverty. Although his grandparents were prone to violence and erratic behavior, his grandmother valued education and encouraged Vance to complete high school when it seemed he might drop out.
Not quite ready for college, Vance joined the US Marine Corps when he was nineteen. He served four years and was deployed to Iraq. Following his discharge, he attended Ohio State University and graduated in 2009 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and philosophy. During his undergraduate studies, he was an intern to Ohio senator Bob Schuler. In 2010, Vance began law school at Yale University. He became editor of the Yale Law Journal, president of the Yale Law Veterans Association, and a research assistant to professor George Priest. He earned a doctor of law degree from Yale Law School in 2013.
Early Career
Vance began his career by working as a law clerk for US Senator John Cornyn for three months in 2011 and for Judge David Bunning of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2013 to 2014. He then worked as a litigation associate in the Washington, DC, office of an international law firm before joining Circuit Therapeutics in May 2015 as the director of operations and business development. In April 2016, he became a principal at Mithril Capital Management, a Silicon Valley technology investment firm led by prominent investor Peter Thiel.
In late June 2016, Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis was published. He had started writing it while still at Yale. It grew out of a project about the lack of economic mobility in the so-called Rust Belt, a multistate area in the Midwest that experienced pronounced economic decline in the late twentieth century due to loss of industry and related blue-collar jobs. Part personal story and part cultural study, Hillbilly Elegy describes Vance’s progression from a child in a highly dysfunctional working-class family in a struggling rural town to a Yale-educated lawyer. A core theme is that Vance's own life shows the value and payoff of hard work and dedication, while "hillbilly culture" and lack of personal responsibility are key factors in the cycle of poverty and related social problems. The book resonated with many readers, and it soon topped the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Interest in Hillbilly Elegy further increased after Donald Trump became the Republican presidential nominee weeks later in 2016. Many pundits across the political spectrum suggested that the book provided insights about the segment of the US population that underpinned Trump's unexpected political success: working-class White Americans who were no longer able to achieve the fabled American Dream. After Trump’s surprise victory in the November 2016 general election, many analysts continued to turn to Hillbilly Elegy to help understand the forces at play in contemporary American culture and politics, including racial and class resentment. However, some observers also criticized the book's sociological assertions as underdeveloped and reliant on stereotypes and anecdotes rather than evidence-based research.
Vance soon became a sought-after writer and contributor: CNN hired him as a commentator, he wrote pieces for the New York Times opinion page, and he appeared on cable news shows and the guest lecturer circuit. He also returned to Ohio and established a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy on many of the key social challenges he faced growing up. Meanwhile, Vance continued to develop his financial career, becoming a partner at the investment firm Revolution in early 2017 and founding his own venture capital firm, Narya Capital, in 2019. Hillbilly Elegy was adapted into a major motion picture and released in November 2020, although it received mostly negative reviews.
Political Career
Vance's success and reputation as a commentator on hot-button social issues brought him considerable attention as a potential political candidate. In 2021, he announced that he would indeed run for office, seeking a US Senate seat from Ohio after the incumbent, Republican Rob Portman, decided not to stand for reelection the following year. The 2022 Congressional elections were marked by Trump's ongoing strong influence over the Republican Party. While Vance had often been sharply critical of Trump around the 2016 election, over the subsequent years he changed his view, and by the time he launched his senate campaign he was a vocal Trump supporter. Vance was also boosted by substantial funding from Thiel and other prominent conservatives. He eventually secured Trump's endorsement in the Republican primary, helping him win the nomination. He then defeated Democratic challenger Tim Ryan in the general election in November 2022.
In the Senate, Vance continued to emerge as a strong proponent of Trump's brand of conservative, nationalist populism. For example, he was critical of immigration, American military aid to Ukraine, same-sex marriage, and abortion rights. He also supported Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Vance did sometimes work with Democrats, and focused on some issues with particular relevance to Ohio. In 2023, for example, he helped to create bipartisan legislation intended to prevent another transportation disaster like the one that occurred during a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, devastating the surrounding community.
Vance's loyalty to Trump helped bring him wide recognition as a rising star in the Republican Party. It also earned him a place on Trump's shortlist of vice presidential candidates for the 2024 election. Trump officially announced that he had selected Vance as his running mate in July 2024 at the Republican National Convention. Vance spent several months on the campaign trail, during which he expressed his support of Trump and his views on immigration and other topics. Trump subsequently proved to be a dominating force in the 2024 presidential election, winning the presidency and thus securing Vance's election as vice president of the United States. At forty years old, Vance was one of the youngest Americans ever to be elected vice president.
Personal Life
Vance married Usha Vance, a fellow Yale-educated lawyer, in 2014. They had three children together. Vance, who was raised as an evangelical Protestant, converted to Catholicism in 2019.
Bibliography
"About JD Vance." JD Vance, www.vance.senate.gov/about/. Accessed 17 July 2024.
Bender, Michael C. "JD Vance, Trump's MAGA Successor, Will Be One of America's Youngest Vice Presidents." The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/jd-vance-wins-vp.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.
Goldsmith, Suzanne. “J.D. Vance Moves to Cincinnati.” Columbus Monthly, 1 Feb. 2019, www.columbusmonthly.com/story/news/2019/02/01/j-d-vance-moves-to/986777007/. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
Heater, Brian. “Hillbilly Elegy Author J. D. Vance Joins Revolution LLC to Promote Startups Outside of Silicon Valley.” TechCrunch, 22 Mar. 2017, techcrunch.com/2017/03/22/jd-vance-revolution-llc/. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Heller, Karen. “Hillbilly Elegy Made J. D. Vance the Voice of the Rust Belt. But Does He Want That Job?” The Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hillbilly-elegy-made-jd-vance-the-voice-of-the-rust-belt-but-does-he-want-that-job/2017/02/06/fa6cd63c-e882-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d‗story.html. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Kunzru, Hari. “Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance Review—Does This Memoir Really Explain Trump’s Victory?” Review of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J. D. Vance. The Guardian, 7 Dec. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/07/hillbilly-elegy-by-jd-vance-review. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Kutner, Max. “Hillbilly Elegy Author J. D. Vance’s Next Chapter: Investing in Red-State Startups.” Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2017, www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-revolution-rise-rest-578635. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Senior, Jennifer. “Review: In Hillbilly Elegy, a Tough Love Analysis of the Poor Who Back Trump.” Review of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J. D. Vance. The New York Times, 10 Aug. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/books/review-in-hillbilly-elegy-a-compassionate-analysis-of-the-poor-who-love-trump.html. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Timsit, Annabelle, and Leo Sands. "Where J.D. Vance Stands on Key Issues: Abortion, Guns, Ukraine, and More." The Washington Post, 17 July 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/16/jd-vance-key-issues-trump-vp-pick/. Accessed 17 July 2024.
Vance, J. D. “J. D. Vance for President?” Interview by Patricia Garcia. Vogue, 8 Feb. 2017, www.vogue.com/article/hillbilly-elegy-author-jd-vance-on-trump. Accessed 5 June 2017.
Wendling, Mike. "JD Vance Was Once 'Never Trump.' Now He's His Running Mate." BBC, 16 July 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn07dv4mrg2o. Accessed 17 July 2024.