Appointed to be Trump's Vice Presidential Candidate: JD Vance Marine is a Veteran And Service in Iraq, Yale's Legal School Graduate

JD Vance. (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

JAKARTA - Republican presidential candidate for the United States Donald Trump has announced James David Vance (JD Vance) as his vice presidential candidate in the upcoming November election.

"After much deliberation and consideration and considering the extraordinary talents of many others, I have decided that the person most suited to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance from the State of Ohio," Trump wrote via his TRUTH Social account as reported by CNN, Tuesday, July 16.

The Republican senator from Ohio, who will be 40 this year, has a long track record, including having made harsh attacks on Trump in the past.

At the launch of his memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' in 2016, Vance had expressed several harsh words in interviews and on Twitter, such as: "I am someone who has never supported Trump. I have never liked him", "Man, he is a fool", "I think he is despicable," as quoted by the BBC.

Vance later told Fox News, "I said some terrible things about Donald Trump a decade ago, but I think it's important to be able to admit again that I was wrong," as quoted by The Times of Israel.

JD Vance. (Wikimedia Commons/United States Marine Corps)

This is not the first time the Ohio senator has backtracked on his previous stances.

"Like many people, I criticized Trump in 2016," Vance said in 2021.

"And I ask people not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I've been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the man," he continued.

Quoting The New York Times, Vance is married. He met his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance at Yale.

From his marriage to Usha, Vance has three children named Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.

Born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio on August 2, 1984, Vance was raised by his grandparents, "Mamaw" and "Papaw," whom he describes sympathetically in his memoir.

A 2003 graduate of Middletown High School, the teenage Vance joined the U.S. Marine Corps that same year. He served there until 2007.

Quoted from Times Now News, Vance was assigned to Iraq for six months in 2005. His impressive military record earned him a number of medals, such as the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal. His candidacy makes him the first military veteran to run for president since John McCain ran in 2008.

After leaving the military, Vance attended Ohio State University, graduating summa cum laude in 2009. From there, he attended Yale Law School, graduating in 2013. Vance also earned a master's degree from the University of Cambridge.

After graduating, Vance worked in law and venture capital before entering politics by joining the Republican Party. His apologies for past statements helped him break into the party's elite and land a seat in the Senate last year.