J.D. Vance (born August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio) is best known for writing Hillbilly Elegy (2016), a popular book about his life growing up in a working-class white family. The book came out at a time when the U.S. was deeply divided, with many people supporting Donald Trump in his run for president. Vance, who is also a lawyer and venture capitalist, used the book’s success to start a political career. He became a U.S. Senator for Ohio in 2022 as a Republican. In 2024, Donald Trump, who was running for president again, chose Vance as his vice-presidential running mate.
Starting life and career
In 2016, J.D. Vance published Hillbilly Elegy, a book about his life growing up in Middletown, Ohio, and spending summers with family in Jackson, Kentucky. In the book, Vance describes the tough conditions in these places, where poverty affected many families for generations. He shares stories of common problems like drug use and violence at home, along with a lack of hope for a better future. Despite these hardships, Vance also writes fondly about his grandmother, “Mamaw,” who gave him the stability and support he needed to push through tough times.
Hillbilly Elegy was released during the 2016 election when Donald Trump, who gained strong support from working-class white voters, won the presidency against Hillary Clinton. Many reviewers praised Vance for helping people understand this group of Americans, some even saying the struggles he described explained why these voters backed Trump. A popular interview with Vance in The American Conservative even caused the magazine’s website to crash. However, some critics said the book reinforced negative stereotypes about poor people in Appalachia and didn’t reflect everyone’s experience in the region. In the years after, other authors wrote books to challenge Vance’s view.
The memoir became a best-seller, and Vance gained attention as a speaker and political commentator. In 2020, Netflix released a movie version of Hillbilly Elegy, directed by Ron Howard, with Amy Adams and Glenn Close playing key roles. While the movie got mixed reviews, Glenn Close was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Mamaw.
U.S. senator
In 2016, J.D. Vance announced he was moving back to Ohio from California to start a nonprofit called Our Ohio Renewal. The organization aimed to help children in need and tackle issues like drug addiction and the opioid crisis, but it closed down after a few years. Vance also started an investment company in Cincinnati. He was often talked about as a possible political candidate and thought about running for the U.S. Senate in 2018 but decided not to because his family was still young. In early 2021, Republican Senator Rob Portman said he wouldn’t run again in 2022, so Vance decided to join the race to replace him.
In 2016, Vance had criticized Donald Trump, even saying in an interview that he “couldn’t stomach Trump” and worried Trump was leading the white working class down a bad path. Vance said he might vote for a third-party candidate that year. However, when he entered the Senate race in 2021, Vance apologized for his earlier comments about Trump. Even though Trump lost the 2020 election, he was still very popular with Republicans in Ohio. Vance built his campaign around supporting Trump’s policies and joined the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. He also supported Trump’s false claims that there had been voter fraud in the 2020 election.
With Trump’s endorsement, Vance won the Republican primary in May 2022 and went on to defeat Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan in the general election in November. He became a U.S. senator for Ohio on January 3, 2023. In his first year, Vance often repeated MAGA views on social media and on right-wing podcasts but also worked with Democrats on some issues, like holding CEOs of failed banks accountable. He clashed with other Republicans, including Senator Mitt Romney and GOP leader Mitch McConnell, especially over U.S. aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Vance also caused controversy in December by writing a letter to top government officials, suggesting that they investigate a journalist for saying that if Trump won a second term, it would lead to a dictatorship.