J.D. Vance is an American politician, author, attorney, and Marine Corps veteran serving as the 50th vice president of the United States since 2025 under President Donald Trump in the second and current administration. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 2023 to 2025.

After high school, Vance joined the Marine Corps, where he served as a military journalist from 2003 to 2007, and was deployed to the Iraq War for six months in 2005. He graduated from Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in 2009 and Yale Law School with a law degree in 2013. He practiced briefly as a corporate lawyer before embarking on a career in the tech industry as a venture capitalist. His memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was published in 2016 and adapted into a film in 2020.

Vance won the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio, defeating Democratic nominee Tim Ryan. After initially opposing Donald Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance became a strong Trump supporter during Trump's first presidency. In July 2024, Trump selected Vance as his running mate before the Republican National Convention. He served as Ohio's senator until his resignation in preparation to assume the vice presidency in January 2025. Vance is the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history, as well as the first millennial to hold the office.

Vance has been characterized as a national conservative and right-wing populist, and he describes himself as a member of the postliberal right. His political positions include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and gun control. Vance is an outspoken critic of childlessness and has acknowledged the influence of Catholic theology on his sociopolitical positions.

Family life

Vance was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, as James Donald Bowman, the son of Donald Bowman and Bev Vance. Of Scots-Irish descent, his mother and father divorced when Vance was a toddler. Shortly afterward, he was legally adopted by his mother's third husband, Robert "Bob" Hamel. Vance and his sister were raised primarily by his grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance, whom they called "Mamaw and Papaw."

Vance has been married to a former law school classmate, Usha Chilukuri Vance, since 2014. They have three children. For much of his professional career, Vance and his family lived in San Francisco.

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Name changes

J.D. Vance was born James Donald Bowman. His middle name, Donald, was chosen for his father, Donald Bowman. After his parents divorced, his mother married Robert Hamel, who became his legal father. Vance's name was then changed to James David Hamel, keeping the "D" initial and preserving "J.D.," his universal nickname. Vance and his wife, Usha, then legally adopted his mother's birth surname, Vance, when they married.

Sources

• "J. D. Vance." Wikipedia, revision of 19 February 2025. < link > Accessed 19 February 2025.

Additional reading

• Davis O'Brien, Rebecca. "J.D. Vance Was Not Always His Name. But It's the One That Felt Closest to Home." The New York Times, published 15 July 2024. < link > Accessed 15 July 2024.
• Meibers, Bonnie. "'Hillbilly Elegy' is my family's story. I'm happy it shared my Mamaw with the world." The Dayton Daily News, published 2020. < link > Accessed 15 July 2024.
• Ward, Ian. "55 Things to Know About J.D. Vance, Trump's VP Pick." Politico Magazine, published 15 July 2024. < link > Accessed 15 July 2024.