He has compared Trump to Hitler in the past: Who is JD Vance?

Trump's election was made public during the Republican Party Congress held in Milwaukee.

JD Vance was someone who is remembered for his anti-Trump views and even defined himself in the 'Never with Trump' camp.

However, it has experienced a great transformation over the years.

Ohio senator J.D. Vance was born James David Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, in 1984. Vance comes from a working-class family of Scots-Irish descent.

He was raised by his grandparents in the Appalachian coal region, which once had job opportunities and is now one of the poorest places in the country.

He served as a Marine in the US Army from 2003 to 2007 and was in Iraq for six months in 2005.

James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman; August 2, 1984) is an American politician, lawyer, author and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who has been serving as the junior United States senator from Ohio since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he is the party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election.

It is known that Vance worked in the media relations department of the army.

After military service, he studied philosophy and political science at Ohio State University. He later studied law at Yale University.

JD Vance wrote his memoirs in the book Hillbilly Elegy, which was stated to open a window into the conservative, white working class that was not widely included in the mainstream, and later became a bestseller.

He harshly criticized Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

In one speech, he called the Republican presidential candidate a "fool" and said he was "reprehensible." He even suggested that Trump could be "America's Hitler."

Vance moved from Ohio to California in 2017, where, after moving into the biotech field, he started his own investment firm with the help of Paypal founder Peter Thiel.

Vance entered the Senate race in 2021 with $10 million in help from Thiel and then walked back his statements about Trump. He apologized for calling the former president "disgusting."

Vance even supported Trump's claims of irregularities in the 2020 elections. He answered 'no' to the question "Do you think the elections were fair?"

With Trump's support, he won the Senate elections in 2022 and became one of the important names in Washington.

Commentators say Trump's loyalty in recent years influenced his decision.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso told Reuters that "Vance approached Trump because of the success he brought to the country."

ideological closeness

Vance is a politician who is close to former President Trump's political ideology.

The two men have similar views on trade, immigration, and foreign policy. Vance is particularly critical of US support regarding Ukraine.

Where the two politicians differed, Vance came closer to Trump's views over time.

He changed his stance, arguing that women who were victims of rape or incest should be allowed to have an abortion.

US President Joe Biden also said that he did not see any difference between Vance and Trump and said, "He is a clone of Trump."