JD Vance"JD"

Born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, to parents who divorced when he was a young child, after which his mother remarried and his stepfather adopted him, changing his name to James David Hamel. He faced a challenging childhood marked by financial struggles, family instability, his mother's battle with addiction, and his father's absence, with his grandparents filling the void with unwavering support and guidance. After graduating high school in 2003, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a tour in Iraq as a military journalist, then studied at Ohio State University before graduating from Yale Law School in 2013. His 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, about growing up amid poverty and addiction in Rust Belt Ohio, became a national bestseller and was later adapted into a Netflix film. He worked as a corporate lawyer and venture capitalist before being elected to the U.S. Senate representing Ohio in 2022. Once an outspoken Trump critic, he reversed course and became a close ally, and Trump selected him as his running mate in July 2024. The Trump-Vance ticket defeated Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in both the Electoral College, 312 to 226, and the popular vote, 49.9 percent to 48.4 percent. He was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2025, becoming the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history.