Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, remains a key contender to serve as vice president as former President Donald Trump seeks reelection this year.
Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022, was first revealed to be on Trump's list of candidates in January by Axios, a remarkable turnaround for Vance, who once called Trump an idiot.
Vance's stock is on the rise after he convinced Trump to endorse Bernie Moreno in the recent Republican primary for Ohio's senate seat and Moreno cruised to victory, according to NBC News.
In 2016, Vance called himself a "Never Trump guy" in an interview with Charlie Rose, and in tweets he later deleted, said Trump was "noxious" and "reprehensible." He later admitted to voting for a third-party candidate for president.
But Vance changed his tune when he launched his senate campaign and said he regretted his remarks. Trump later endorsed Vance, catapulting Vance to a win in the Republican primary.
Since his election, Vance has become an ardent backer of Trump, being one of the first to endorse his 2024 presidential campaign and aligning with Trump on issues like Ukraine aid and immigration.
Vance also said the criminal indictments and civil cases against Trump are politically motivated.
"This is not about prosecuting Trump for something that he did," Vance said in an interview on "This Week" in January. "Democrats feel that they can't beat him at the ballot box. And so, they're trying to defeat him in court."
Trump has called Vance "a friend of mine," "an absolute star," "a great senator" and "a real fighter," according to NBC News.
Vance also said he would not have certified the 2020 presidential election had he been vice president.
"If I had been vice president, I would have told the states that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there," Vance said on This Week. "That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020. I think that's what we should have done."
On X, Vance recently referred to President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as "the most corrupt regime in American history."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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