J.D. Vance speech at RNC spotlights his Rustbelt roots : NPR

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MILWAUKEE — Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance took the stage Thursday evening for his first public address as a part of Donald Trump’s presidential ticket.

Introduced by his wife, lawyer Usha Vance, the current Ohio senator came on stage to repeat the message Republicans have heard all week: “Fight.”

The word became a motto during the convention after the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. After being shot at, Trump stood up with his fist in the air mouthing the word “fight” in front of the crowd.

“My message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win,” Vance said, declaring that he officially accepts the Republican nomination to be vice president.

Trump announced Vance as his pick for vice presidential nominee Monday just ahead of the roll call vote of delegates to formally nominate him.

Trump, who will accept the presidential nomination during his speech Thursday night, was in the audience watching Vance introduce himself to the country.

“Mr. President, I will never take for granted the trust you have put in me and what an honor it is to help achieve the extraordinary vision that you have for this country,” Vance said Wednesday. “I pledge to every American: No matter your party, I will give you everything I have to serve you and to make this country a place where every dream you have for yourself, your family and your country will be possible once again.”

Vance said the night could have been one of mourning instead of celebration, after the attempt on Trump’s life over the weekend. He said Trump, a successful businessman, had “anything anyone could ever want in a life,” but chose to “endure abuse, slander and persecution … because he loves this country.”

Vance urged Americans to watch the video of the would-be assassination, “consider the lies they’ve told you about Trump and then look at that photo of him, defiant, fist in the air.”

“When Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him,” he said. “They said he was a tyrant, they said he must be stopped at all costs, but how did he respond? He called for national unity, national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life.”

Vance focuses on his rural roots

Vance was also tee-ed up by Trump’s son Donald Jr., who noted the contrast between Vance’s rural upbringing and his own Manhattan childhood; “We grew up worlds apart,” he said.

“President Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what if lost may never be found again,” Vance said, “a country where a working-class boy born far from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the next vice president of the United States of America.”

The first-term senator, who was elected in 2022, and came to political relevance when he wrote the book Hillbilly Elegy, blamed Biden and Democrats for a struggling rural economy he grew up in.

He criticized Biden for supporting NAFTA, a trade deal with China and the U.S. invasion of Iraq — all done under Republican administrations — which happened during his childhood and teenage years and which he described as hurting small towns. The crowd chanted, “Joe gotta go” — to which he quipped, “I agree.”

Despite his personal hardships, Vance said he had a “guardian angel” by his side: His grandmother, “Mamaw,” who raised him while his own mother struggled with addiction.

He said there is “so much talent and grit … but for these places to thrive, my friends, we need a leader who fights for the people who built this country.” The crowd burst into chants of “Mamaw” as Vance smiled and pumped his fist.

A friend and former rival on Vance as VP

Businessman and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to NPR at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Grace Widyatmadja/NPR

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Grace Widyatmadja/NPR

Vivek Ramaswamy told NPR on Wednesday night that Vance is a friend.

“He’s a friend and someone I know in a more personal way,” Ramaswamy said. “He’s as good of a father as he is a friend.”

Ramaswamy added that while the two disagree on policy, he appreciates Vance’s contributions to the Trump ticket.

“He’s an American dream story like me,” Ramaswamy said. “He has a policy vision for the country that makes it more accessible.”

One of the critics of Vance is that he was previously deeply critical of Trump. Ramaswamy said he does not see this as a weakness.

“He has genuinely evolved in his views,” Ramaswamy said. “We may not believe the same thing we did today as we did years ago. … We need people who didn’t vote for Trump in 2020.”

Regardless of his political shifts, Vance did make a vow in the close of his speech.

“To the people in Middletown, Ohio and all the Forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”