JD Vance - James David Vance Biography

James David Vance, popularly known as JD Vance, was born in Middletown on August 2, 1984.

Family:

He belonged to a working class family and was the son of Donald Ray Bowman and Beverly Carol Vance. His parents separated when he was young. His mother’s drug addiction had a huge impact on his family life. Raised by their grandparents for the most part of their childhood, JD and Lindsay were nurtured through dependence upon Bonnie “Mamaw” Blanton and James “Papaw” Vance who influenced them positively.

His heritage includes Scottish and Irish descent. He was adopted by his mother’s third husband Bob Hamel and he switched names to James David Hamel.

Education:

Vance went to Middletown High School where he performed well academically. Once out of school he joined the United States Marine Corps which took him to Iraq. After his military service ended, he attended Ohio State University where Bachelor’s degrees were conferred on him in Political Science and Philosophy. Due to this development, he enrolled at Yale Law School from which he graduated in 2013 with honors.

Attorney:

Before becoming a writer who achieved fame, Vance worked as an associate at different law firms and also as an advisor for business consultancies. While studying at Yale, his knowledge about social and economic inequalities became broader particularly within Appalachia – the region from which his people originally hail from.

Being a Writer: 

J.D. Vance published “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” about his growing up in Appalachia and how he became successful at the age of four years ago in 2016. This book was a number one seller which appeared on The New York Times bestseller list from 2016 to 2017. It was also highly acclaimed as it received many reviews, both in media houses and universities that discussed poverty, drug addiction or lack of opportunities for poor communities.

After the book’s success in early 2017, he joined CNN as a contributor.

Directed by Ron Howard, Netflix turned this play into film in 2020.

On Investment:

He joined Revolution LLC an investment firm founded by Steve Case who is AOL co-founder in 2017. Vance had been tasked with expanding “Rise of the Rest” initiative at the company which is aimed at driving investment into underdeveloped regions outside of silicon valley and New York.He co-founded Narya Capital located at Cincinnati together with Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen who provided financial backing for it.The following year he raised $93m for the company. In addition to other ventures like Rumble-a Canadian online video platform popular among right-wing politics- Vance has invested alongside Darren Blanton who is Trump’s former adviser.

Career in Politics:

At first, back then during the presidential election held in 2016; he belonged to Centralist group called Never Trumpers which was against his campaign then and still invented Trumpism after President Donald Trump left office.

In 2021 Jim ran as a Republican candidate for United States Senate from Ohio elected for the year 2022 representing his district winning over Tim Ryan who was Democrat nominee.His campaign revolved around critical topics such as boosting economy reforms regarding criminal justice and opiod addiction plus the rest. His journey to this new position was however not straight forward with several scandals and obstacles.He won the seat in spite of many initial controversies, as he emerged as a conservative leader whose policies were mainly based on economic and cultural issues.

2024 Vice Presidential Campaign:

On January 31, 2023, Vance declared his backing for the former President Trump during the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. On July 15, 2024, on the first day of the Republican National Convention, Trump announced through a Truth Social post that he had chosen Vance as his running mate. Two days later, on July 17, Vance agreed to run in the presidential election set for November 5. He is the first ever navy veteran to be part of a presidential ticket.

Private life:

Married since 2014 to Usha Chilukuri Vance who is a lawyer and is an Indian immigrant’s daughter whom he met while studying at Yale. The couple celebrated an interfaith ceremony where she is Hindu whereas he is Christian. Upon getting married he adopted his grandparents’ family name Vance.

The couple had three kids named Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.

Summary:

US businessman writer and politician most famous for his book Hillbilly Elegy which talks about his upbringing in a working class family in Appalachia. He was educated at Ohio State University and Yale Law School while also serving across different capacities. In 2022 he became Ohio senator majoring in economic and social issues. On July 15th 2024 Donald Trump stated that Vance was his preferred running mate as they ran for United States presidency that year.

Did you know...

JD Vance voted for Trump in 2020.

Charges:

United States Senator from Ohio
Since January 3, 2023