JD Vance, the 39-year-old junior Senator from Ohio, spent more than 40 minutes oscillating between praising former president Donald Trump and railing against President Joe Biden on Wednesday night.
In his first speech since Mr Trump tapped him to be his running mate in the November presidential election, Mr Vance spoke to the Republican National Convention, leaning heavily on his challenging, working class upbringing in Middletown Ohio to woo voters.
That campaign angle could prove critical in swing states across the US rust belt including in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
“I promise you one more thing to the people of Middletown, Ohio and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this, I will be a Vice President who never forgets where he came from.”
Mr Vance first rose to prominence in 2016, when he published his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which chronicles his difficult upbringing in rural Ohio.
The book earned praise for its controversial portrayal of the frustrations of the white working class.
Mr Vance was effusive towards Mr Trump, repeatedly praising the former president and outlining their vision for the country.
“President Trump's vision is so simple and yet so powerful,” Mr Vance told delegates and attendees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “We're done ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We'll commit to the working man. We're done importing foreign labour. We're going to fight for American citizens and their good jobs and their good wages.”
Mr Vance attacked Mr Biden, for being a “career politician” who supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and the war in Iraq.
“When I was a senior in high school, that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq, and at each step of the way in small towns like mine in Ohio or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas, and our children were sent to war,” he said.
The father of three, who was only elected to the Senate in 2022, tried to contrast his youthfulness against Mr Biden’s age.
“Joe Biden has been a politician in Washington for longer than I've been alive, [I am 39 years old],” he said. “Kamala Harris is not much further behind. For half a century, he's been the champion of every major policy initiative to make America weaker and poor, and in four short years, Donald Trump reversed decades of betrayals inflicted by Joe Biden and the rest of the corrupt Washington insiders.”
Ms Harris was quick to respond to Mr Vance’s speech.
“Make no mistake: If elected, JD Vance will help implement the extreme Project 2025 plan for a second Trump term, which outlines a plan to restrict access to contraception and ban abortion nationwide,” Ms Harris said on X. “We will stop them.”
