JD Vance

JD Vance was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, to Don and Bev Bowman, who divorced when he was young. He was largely raised by his maternal grandparents, who had moved to Middletown from the Appalachian region of eastern KentuckyKentuckyKentucky is a U.S. state bordered by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west; its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. It entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had a population of 4,505,836 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry.⁠[1]

Born with the surname Bowman, he changed his name in 2013 to take his maternal grandparents’ surname, Vance.⁠[2][1]

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003, Vance enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served four years, including a tour in Iraq, working as a military journalist.⁠[1][3][2]

After his service he used the GI Bill to attend Ohio State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy in 2009.⁠[3][1]

Vance received a law degree from Yale Law School in 2013 and then worked for the law firm Sidley Austin LLP and for investment firms in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry and elsewhere, including a venture capital firm co-founded by Peter ThielPeter ThielPeter Thiel is an American entrepreneur and investor, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, and the first outside investor in Facebook. He is a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund and founded the Thiel Fellowship, which funds young people to leave college and build new things; his public skepticism of higher education, his support for Trump in 2016, and his funding of litigation against Gawker Media have drawn controversy.Open the full entry. His White House biography says that after law school he invested in startups across the Midwest.⁠[1][2][3]

In 2016 Vance published the memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which describes poverty and family life in Middletown and in Jackson, Kentucky, and became a best-seller. A film adaptation directed by Ron Howard was released by NetflixNetflixNetflix is a U.S. entertainment company that offers streaming series, films, games, and live programming, headquartered in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997, it grew from online DVD rental into an international subscription entertainment service and also runs original content, advertising, and in-person experience businesses.Open the full entry in 2020.⁠[1]

The same year he moved back to Ohio and founded Our Ohio Renewal, a nonprofit organization that later folded.⁠[1]

After Republican senator Rob Portman announced that he would not seek reelection, Vance entered Ohio’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. He finished first in the Republican primary in May 2022 and defeated the Democratic candidate, Tim Ryan, in the general election that November.⁠[1]

Vance was sworn in as a U.S. senator from Ohio on January 3, 2023. His White House biography says that in the Senate he focused on border security, manufacturing and the prosperity of working-class Americans.⁠[1][3]

On the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, announced Vance as his running mate, the Republican nominee for vice president.⁠[1][3]

In the November 2024 election the Trump–Vance ticket defeated the ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, winning 312 electoral votes to 226 and 49.9 percent of the popular vote to 48.4 percent.⁠[2]

About two years into his six-year term, Vance resigned his Senate seat from Ohio in a letter to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, effective January 10, 2025.⁠[4]

On January 20, 2025, the 60th inaugural ceremonies were held in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol because of inclement weather. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the vice-presidential oath to Vance, who took it on a family Bible that had belonged to his maternal great-grandmother and became the 50th vice president of the United States; Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. then administered the presidential oath to Donald Trump as the 47th president.⁠[5]

Vance visited India in April 2025, ending a four-day trip on April 24 that took him to New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. In New Delhi he held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the two countries formally announced the finalization of the Terms of Reference for negotiations on a U.S.–India bilateral trade agreement; in Jaipur he delivered remarks on the U.S.–India relationship at the Rajasthan International Centre.⁠[6]

As of November 2026, the “Administration” section of the White House website lists JD Vance as vice president of the United States.⁠[3]

Vance met Usha Chilukuri at Yale Law School, and they married in 2014. His White House biography says the couple have four children.⁠[2][3]

The White House: Official website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]