J.D. Vance became the US Vice Presidential candidate, chosen by officially proclaimed US Presidential Candidate Donald Trump from the Republican Party.
ICTV Facts has collected everything that is known about the biography and details of the life of JD Vance, as well as his statements about a full-scale war on Russia and his attitude towards Ukraine.
JD Vance — biography and life details
JD Vance was born on August 2, 1984 in Middletown, Ohio in the United States of America.
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At the time of his birth, he was given the name James Donald Bowman. However, after the divorce, the mother changed her son's name to James David Hamel in honor of her new husband. Later he took his grandfather's surname — James Lee Vance.
In 2003, after graduating from high school, J.D. Vance joined the US Marine Corps. He worked in the Corps as a public affairs officer during the Iraq War and retired from service in 2007.
In 2009, J.D. Vance graduated from Ohio State University, where he studied political science and philosophy. And in 2013 he graduated from Yale Law School. He worked as an attorney at the Sidley Austin law firm in Illinois before pursuing a career in Silicon Valley.
In 2017, he became a business partner of AOL co-founder Steve Case at the venture capital company Revolution LLC.
J.D. Vance wrote a memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which became a bestseller in the United States.
Photo: Getty Images
JD Vance on Donald Trump
In 2020, the memoir was filmed by director Ron Howard, who then in 2022 publicly expressed surprise at the transformation of J.D. Vance from an opponent of Donald Trump to his devoted supporter.
In one of the interviews he called himself — never-Trump guy. Translated, this means: a guy who is categorically against Trump. He called him “American Hitler”, and Trumpism — “opium for the masses”.
However, in the summer of 2021, in an interview with Fox News, he apologized for his words. Around that time he was running for a vacant seat in the Ohio Senate.
According to one of his close friends, Vance did not like the fact that many publications wrote only negatively about Trump.
Photo: Getty Images
In November 2022, Vance defeated the experienced politician, Congressman Tim Ryan, in the election to the US Senate. JD Vance — US Senator from Ohio since 2023.
JD Vance — statements about the war in Russia and attitude towards Ukraine
JD Vance is one of the biggest critics of aid to Ukraine among potential US vice presidential candidates.
In particular, J.D. Vance proposed that Kyiv declare neutral status, negotiate with Russia and be ready to make territorial concessions.
In the US Congress, Vance was a vocal opponent of foreign aid, opposing legislation to send more US aid to Ukraine due to a full-scale Russian invasion.
On December 10, 2023, on the eve of President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the United States, Vance said in a speech on CNN that it would be in America's best interests for Ukraine to cede some of its territory to Russia, and insisted on the need to end the war.
Photo: Office of the President
— Zelensky’s military goals do not correspond to reality. Some of his inner circle are resisting. This was always going to end with Russia controlling part of Ukrainian territory and a negotiated settlement. This was obvious to anyone who paid attention to the realities, — stated JD Vance.
December 11, 2023, he called Zelensky’s visit “the most shameful farce” for Vance's first year in the US Senate.
On American TV presenter Laura Ingraham's talk show on Fox News, he said that this happened as a result of an undignified process when the Ukrainian president demanded $61 billion of taxpayers from American legislators, because in case of refusal, in order to achieve better protection of the southern US borders they can be called puppets of dictator Vladimir Putin.
Vance soon announced that the continuation of such a policy would lead to the transformation of Ukraine into a permanent client of the United States, allegedly unable to pay pensions and perform other government functions.
On July 15, 2024, on the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention, J.D. Vance was announced as Donald Trump's nominee for Vice President of the United States.
