After all the speculation, it’s now official: JD Vance will be Donald Trump’s running mate in November. The subject has been the obsession of delegates here in Milwaukee on day one of the Republican National Convention. In typical Apprentice style, Trump has allowed speculation to build for weeks, as the media picked over various candidates, before picking his favourite as it reached a climax.
As one of two Senators from Ohio, Vance will be entrusted to carry the swing state’s crucial 17 electoral college votes in four months’ time. He will have been picked for his potential appeal to working-class voters in the critical battleground states of the wider Midwest. If Trump is elected, Vance, who turns 40 in August, would be one of the youngest vice presidents in history and one with just two years of elected experience.
It is the first time that a vice presidential candidate for a major political party has been named at a convention since Dan Quayle in 1989 and is another indication of Trump’s enhanced standing since his last pick in 2016.
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