J. D. Vance (US writer and venture capitalist) Add a review

James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman, August 2, 1984) is an American politician and author serving as the 50th vice president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented Ohio in the United States Senate from 2023 to 2025.

Born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003, serving as a military journalist in public affairs throughout his four-year tenure until 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. After a brief career in corporate law, Vance became a venture capitalist, working for Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital. He gained national prominence with his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, a book promoted as a portrait of the white working class that served as the foundation for his political persona.

Despite his later political alignment, in a 2016 interview he called himself a "never Trump guy" and called Trump an "idiot" while opposing Donald Trump's candidacy, privately expressing concerns that Trump could be "America's Hitler." Vance then switched his position to become a strong Trump supporter during Trump's presidency. He was selected as Trump's running mate for the 2024 election and resigned from the Senate before his inauguration as vice president. During his tenure as vice president, he has served as finance chair of the Republican National Committee.

Vance has been described as a national conservative and right-wing populist aligning himself with the "postliberal" New Right movement. His political platform is characterized by opposition to immigration, abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun control, and U.S. support for Ukraine. He is an outspoken critic of "childlessness" and has cited Catholic social teaching and Catholic theology as an influence on his views and sociopolitical positions, a stance that has drawn direct criticism from both Pope Francis and his successor, Pope Leo XIV, for misrepresenting Church teaching.