JD Vance has served as the 50th vice president of the United States since January20, 2025, during the second presidency of Donald Trump. Vance, a member of the Republican Party who had previously served as a U.S. senator representing Ohio from 2023 to 2025, was selected as Trump's running mate and took office following their victory in the 2024 presidential election over Democratic nominees Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. He is the first vice president to have served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
The first millennial to be vice president, Vance is the youngest person elected to the office since Richard Nixon in 1952, as well as the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history. He is the second Catholic to hold the position, after Joe Biden, and has the least previous political experience of any vice president, serving two years and seven days in office as a senator from Ohio before assuming the vice presidency. During his tenure, Vance has also served as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
Alongside Vance's vice presidency, the Republican Party also holds their majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate during the 119th U.S. Congress following the 2024 elections, attains an overall federal government trifecta.
2024 vice-presidential campaign
On January 31, 2023, Vance endorsed former president Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. On July 15, 2024, the first day of the Republican National Convention, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had chosen Vance as his running mate. On July 17, Vance accepted the Republican nomination for vice president, at age 39.
Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, advocated for their father to choose Vance. Several media and industry figures are said to have lobbied for Vance to be on the presidential ticket, including Elon Musk, David O. Sacks, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Thiel, who first introduced Trump to Vance in 2021. The Heritage Foundation, which drafted Project 2025, privately advocated for Vance to be Trump's vice-presidential pick. Musk responded to Trump's vice-presidential pick hours after its announcement, saying the ticket "resounds with victory". David Sacks, a prominent GOP donor and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, wrote on Twitter: "This is who I want by Trump's side: an American patriot." In 2022, Sacks gave a super PAC supporting Vance's Senate campaign $900,000, and Peter Thiel added $15 million. It was initially reported that Elon Musk would contribute $45 million monthly to the Trump-Vance campaign, but Musk later said he planned to donate "much lower amounts".
On May 15, 2024, Trump attended a $50,000 per head private fundraising dinner with Vance in Cincinnati. Guests included Chris Bortz and Republican fundraiser Nate Morris. Vance appeared at significant conservative political events and in June was described as a potential running mate for Trump. In July, a former friend of Vance's from Yale Law School exposed to the media communications between them and Vance from 2014 to 2017, with the friend alleging that Vance has "changed [his] opinion on literally every imaginable issue that affects everyday Americans" in pursuit of "political power and wealth".
In late July 2024, after President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for reelection and Vice President Kamala Harris became a presidential candidate, Vance said at a private fundraiser that the "bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden ... Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did"; a day later, Vance told the media: "I don't think the political calculus changes at all" whether Harris or Biden was the Democratic nominee. Following criticism of his past remarks and political positions, Vance said in an August 2024 interview that a vice president "doesn't really matter" and that "Kamala Harris has been a bad vice president". This came after Trump said that the "vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact". In late August, after the Trump campaign was embroiled in controversy for allegedly bringing cameras into a restricted area of Arlington National Cemetery during Trump's visit there, Vance first said that Harris "can go to hell" because "she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up", and then said "Don't do this fake outrage thing". At the time of his comments, Harris had not publicly discussed the incident.
In August 2024, Vance said that Trump "said that explicitly that he would" veto a national abortion ban. In September 2024, during his debate with Harris, Trump was asked about Vance's statement about the veto, and responded: "I didn't discuss it with JD ... I think he was speaking for me—but I really didn't."
In late September 2024, Vance spoke at a western Pennsylvania town hall event organized by Lance Wallnau, who has promoted election denialism and called Kamala Harris a "demon". In October 2024, Vance said he did not believe Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and that he believed "Big Tech rigged the election" through censorship.
Comments on childlessness Shortly after being named Trump's running mate, Vance was criticized for saying in a 2021 Fox News interview, "we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too." The resurfaced comments, which were posted by MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski, sparked an immediate backlash across news and social media. On July 26, 2024, Vance clarified his remarks on The Megyn Kelly Show, saying, "It's not a criticism of people who don't have children" and "this is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child". He has said that being "pro-babies and pro-family" should be the Republican Party's highest priority.
After backlash to the Fox News interview, additional comments that Vance had made in interviews about childless people resurfaced. In a 2020 podcast interview, he said that being childless "makes people more sociopathic and ultimately our whole country a little bit less, less mentally stable". Vance's campaign referred to "radical childless leaders in this country" in a fundraising email sent after his appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight. CNN found multiple examples of Vance making similarly disparaging remarks about childless people, primarily Democratic officials. In a 2021 speech at a Center for Christian Virtue leadership meeting, Vance said that childless teachers were "trying to brainwash the minds of our children" and criticized American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, saying: "If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone." He also suggested in a March 2021 interview on The Charlie Kirk Show that childless people should be taxed at a higher rate than those with children, adding that the U.S. should "reward the things that we think are good" and "punish the things that we think are bad". In an August 2024 interview on Face the Nation, Vance said he supported increasing the child tax credit from $2,000 per child to $5,000 per child, even though his Senate Republican colleagues had blocked an expanded child tax credit two weeks earlier while he was absent for the vote, having called it a "show vote" and saying it would not have passed even if he had been present.
Comments on Haitian immigrants
In September 2024, Vance made allegations of "Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country". Trump subsequently echoed the allegations, including during a presidential debate. Springfield authorities said there were "no credible reports or specific claims" of such incidents and that "Haitian immigrants are here legally". Vance then said that it was "possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false", but also told his supporters to "keep the cat memes flowing". He then promoted conservative activist Christopher Rufo's allegation that African migrants were eating cats in Dayton, Ohio; Dayton authorities reported "no evidence to even remotely suggest that any group, including our immigrant community, is engaged in eating pets".
After Vance's claim about Haitians eating pets was disputed, he said: "Do you know what's confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here"; the child had actually died in an accidental collision between vehicles in Springfield, and the child's father criticized Vance for using the child's "death for political gain". Vance also alleged a "massive rise in communicable diseases" in Springfield, but Clark County's health commissioner reported having "not seen a substantial increase in all reportable communicable diseases". After Vance's and Trump's allegations, Springfield experienced multiple bomb threats in September. Vance denounced "violence or the threat of violence levied against Springfield", but continued his allegations against immigrants there. He defended his claims about Haitian migrants eating cats, saying that he was willing "to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention ... we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it."
Vice presidential debate
Opinion polls In July 2024, a CNN poll analysis after the Republican National Convention showed a net-negative approval rating for Vance. That week, Vance's middling public reception and other concerns led some prominent Republican politicians and political analysts to say that he may have been a poor choice of running mate, especially in light of the shift in the election's dynamics upon the withdrawal of President Biden from the election and advent of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.Multiple sources:
After the October 2024 vice-presidential debate, A CBS News/YouGov poll of 1,630 likely debate viewers found Vance's favorability rose from 40% to 49%, while Walz's increased from 52% to 60%. Both candidates' unfavorability ratings also declined, with Vance's dropping from 54% to 47% and Walz's falling from 41% to 35%. The poll had a margin of error of 2.7 points.
As of February 20, 2025, according to FiveThirtyEight, Vance's overall favorability was 40.7% and his unfavorability was 42.5%.
Transition and inauguration
The transition period began following Vance's victory in the election. Vance, along with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were designated as honorary co-chairs of the second presidential transition of Donald Trump.
On December 5, Vance and his wife traveled to Western North Carolina to survey storm wreckage from Hurricane Helene and to thank first responders, alongside U.S. senators Thom Tillis and Shelley Moore Capito.
On December 7, Vance met with UK Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch in Washington, D.C., to discuss US–UK relations.
On December 12, Vance appeared alongside Trump, Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, and others to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
On December 14, 2024, Vance attended the 2024 Army–Navy Game, alongside Trump, Elon Musk, Daniel Penny, Pete Hegseth, and Ron DeSantis.
Vance and his family spent New Year's Eve at Mar-a-Lago, alongside the Trump family, Elon Musk, Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Michael Waltz, Alina Habba, Don King, Roger Stone, and Miriam Adelson.
On January 3, 2025, Vance attended the swearing-in ceremony of Bernie Moreno and Dave McCormick.
On January 9, Vance attended the funeral of Jimmy Carter, alongside the current and living former vice presidents.