Former President Trump named Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as his vice presidential nominee during the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
A first-term senator, Vance became known as a right-wing populist lawmaker, boasting support from high-profile donors like Peter Thiel. Author of the best-seller-turned-movie “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance sold himself as a man of humble Appalachian origins, even though he spent much of his pre-political career in venture capital in the Bay Area.
Initially a staunch critic of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, even calling the former president “America’s Hitler,” Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement and has since become one of his closest allies. Upcoming.
This is where the Republican vice presidential nominee stands on key issues.
Abortion
Vance has taken a hard-line stance against abortion for much of his career, but has since appeared to moderate his comments on the issue.
He campaigned for the Senate on a promise to “end abortion,” according to his campaign issues page, and called himself “100% pro-life”. The issues page was removed after Vance was nominated for vice president and now redirects to the Trump campaign.
He is also described abortion as “the first political issue I remember worrying about” and lobbied against a state ballot measure last year that codified abortion access in Ohio. Vance compared abortion in murder in a post after the ballot measure passed.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent anti-abortion group, gave Vance an A+ on your National Pro-Life Scorecard.
Although he had previously left against exceptions to access abortion in cases of rape or incest when advocating a ban on the procedure, Vance has since supported limited exceptions for the sake of “political reality”.
The senator has attempted to walk back some of those comments in recent days, saying earlier this month that he fully supports Trump’s abortion policy to leave the issue up to the states, calling the former president a “pragmatic leader” for the approach in a interview with “Meet the press”.
Vance also said he supports a Supreme Court ruling last month to federally protect access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
Ukraine
Vance is one of the most skeptical in the Senate regarding American support for Ukraine, as the country continues to defend itself from an invasion by Russia, and is a strong supporter of the “America First” foreign policy.
Vance “continues to oppose virtually any proposal for the United States to continue financing this war,” he wrote in an April statement. New York Times op-ed.
Vance also encouraged diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I never argued that Putin was a kind and friendly person. I argued that he is a person with distinct interests and that the United States has to respond to that person with distinct interests,” Vance said at the Munich Security Conference in February.
“But just because he’s a bad guy doesn’t mean we can’t engage in basic diplomacy and put America’s interests first,” he continued. “There are a lot of bad guys all over the world and I’m much more interested in some of the problems in East Asia right now than I am in Europe.”
Election integrity
Vance repeated Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.” He confirmed in February that he still believes there were “problems” with the election.
The senator also downplayed the violence that occurred during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Vance said in May that he was “skeptical” that then-Vice President Mike Pence’s life was in danger. Vance also said he would have chosen not to certify the 2020 election results without pro-Trump voters in a February interview with ABC’s “This Week.”
Both Trump and Vance have sown doubts about the 2024 elections, with the vice-presidential candidate saying he will only accept the vote results if they are “free and fair”.
“I fully intend to accept the results of 2024; I think Donald Trump will be the winner. And if it’s a free and fair election, Dana, I think every Republican will accept the results with enthusiasm,” Vance said during a May interview with CNN. Dana Bash.
He is also defended against widespread use of mail-in ballots, a position that puts him at odds with Trump, saying the process creates “extraordinary opportunities for fraud.”
LGBTQ rights
LGBTQ advocacy organizations criticized Vance’s rhetoric and legislative record as harmful to the community.
Vance “has a history of spewing anti-LGBTQ+ vitriol,” Human Rights Campaign said in a statement following his announcement as Trump’s running mate.
Vance supported and defended the use of “trimmer” to describe LGBTQ people, supporting false tropes of LGBTQ connections to pedophilia.
Vance also said during his 2022 Senate campaign that he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Actwhich legalized same-sex marriage and answered in an issue survey that he “strongly disagreed” with sexual orientation and gender identity should receive protection from discrimination.
Ohio Senator presented a bill to prohibit access to gender-affirming care for minors in the upper house last year, as well as to prevent the State Department from allowing “X” gender markers on passports. None of the projects were presented to the committee.
Immigration
Vance advocated a strict border crackdown and mass deportations, a position that puts him in line with Trump. He always explained his position as a way to protect American jobs, specifically for native workers.
The senator also supported completing construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and said he would “oppose any attempt to grant amnesty” to immigrants who arrived here illegally, instead supporting merit-based reforms. .
“Joe Biden’s open border is killing Ohioans,” he said in the first ad of his 2022 Senate campaign. “With more illegal drugs and more Democratic voters entering this country.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
