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Ohio’s J.D. Vance to run on ticket as Trump’s choice for vice president in November

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Former President Donald Trump put an end to months of guesswork Monday, cementing the distinct possibility the next vice president of the United States will be from Ohio.

JD Vance, the recently announced Trump VP pick, speaks at a podium after his senate election win.
US Senator Elect JD Vance (R) speaks to a crowd in downtown Columbus after winning his race. [Daniel Konik | Statehouse News Bureau]
Freshman Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican born and raised in Middletown who graduated from Yale Law School and Ohio State University, will be on the Republican ticket in November as Trump’s running mate.

Two years earlier, Trump’s endorsement of the now-junior senator from Ohio enabled Vance, now 39, to emerge from a crowded primary field where he won the nomination and later the U.S. Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Rob Portman. He beat out former Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from the Youngstown area.

Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis became something of a cultural touchstone during and after the 2016 election.

Vance was publicly critical of Trump then, but has become bulldoggish in his defense of the former president. When a 20-year-old gunman shot Trump at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, killing an attendee and injuring at least two others, Vance took to X—formerly Twitter—to decry the Democratic party’s rhetoric.

Minutes after that shooting, Gov. Mike DeWine OK’d additional security for Vance, according to a spokesperson. If Trump and Vance win in November, DeWine will appoint a person to Vance’s current position through 2026.