Saqib Saleem Qureshi

Washington: Donald Trump has named US Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, further elevating the Ohio Republican who has adopted the former president’s populist agenda after years of pointed criticism of Trump.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s selection came on the first day of the Republican National Convention and just two days after he survived an assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. On the floor of the convention, shortly after news of Vance’s selection broke, delegates celebrating the party’s ticket were writing Vance’s name onto Trump signs using markers.

Ahead of Trump’s selection of Vance, the Ohio senator’s supporters, including Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and conservative media figure Tucker Carlson, had argued that Vance has the strongest relationship with Trump of a group of finalists that also included Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and would be the most loyal selection, multiple sources familiar with the discussions said.

They made the case that Vance can appeal to working-class voters viewed as essential to winning the key battleground states in November, given his upbringing in a poor Rust Belt town in Ohio. They also pointed to his wife, Usha Chilukuri — the child of Indian immigrants — as being someone who could appeal to minority voters, the sources said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, on the convention floor, described Trump’s selection of Vance as “a great day for Ohio.”

“He is consistent with Trump’s appeal to working men and women,” DeWine said, adding that he thought it was wise for Trump to pick someone younger. “Also, someone who shares his desire to expand the base of the Republican Party.”

Vance, a venture capitalist and the author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” was elected to the Senate in 2022 after receiving a boost from Trump in a contentious Republican primary.

It was a reversal from just six years earlier. Vance was a key voice in the “Never Trump” movement during the 2016 election and has a well-documented history of opposing the former president publicly.