the VP candidate who was raised in a Rust Belt home by a drug addict mother

When JD Vance released his ode to a forgotten Middle America in 2016, he immediately became a literary icon.

Hillbilly Elegy, his memoir-cum-analysis of the decline of the Rust Belt, and a candid account of the poverty it had created, was a cult success that built on his firsthand experiences with violence and addiction.

The timing of the publication was significant. Donald Trump made his gamble on the presidency that same year by tapping into the frustrations of working-class voters who felt abandoned by a political elite.

Trump’s surprise success made Mr. Vance a useful middleman between his working-class base and the bewildered American news media.

Both understood something that many establishment politicians had not: the American working class was willing to leave the Democratic Party behind.

And yet the two men could not have been more different, both in terms of background and vision of the future.

Trump, the son of a real estate developer, had been enjoying the good life for decades, gracing the pages of New York’s gossip columns as a fixture of the city’s high society.

Mr. Vance was born into a much humbler background in the steel town of Middletown, Ohio, and raised in an unstable home by a drug-addicted mother. He parlayed his academic talent into a lucrative career as a lawyer and venture capitalist.

With the platform given him by Hillbilly Elegy, Mr. Vance was aligned with Trump for his ability to respond to the concerns of workers in the Rust Belt.

But he made clear his disdain for the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, calling himself a “never Trump guy.”

Vance, more familiar than most with the scourge of American opioid addiction, likened Trump’s candidacy to cultural heroin and called him “America’s Hitler.”

By the time he pursued a political career of his own in 2021, Mr. Vance had made a shrewd assessment of the landscape and undergone a conversion to Trumpism.

“I’ve been very open about the fact that I said those critical things, and I regret it, and I regret that I was wrong about the man,” he told Fox in 2021.

In his debate against Tim Walz on October 1, he said: “I’ve always been open and sometimes I’ve obviously disagreed with the president, but I’ve also been extremely open about being wrong. Donald Trump.”

His newfound loyalty earned him the former president’s endorsement in Ohio’s Senate race, the most competitive midterm election of 2022, and with it his seat in the U.S. Senate.

His fierce support for Trump in Congress, as well as his prowess on both cable news and the campaign trail, has now seen him achieve what would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

As Trump’s running mate in 2024, the 40-year-old could become one of the youngest vice presidents in American history.

Many see opportunism in Mr. Vance’s about-face, but friends argue the shift was a response to what he saw as the media’s hysterical reaction to Trump’s presidency.

“It was a gradual shift that I think was really caused by the media and the left’s overreaction to Trump,” a friend told ABC News.

Nevertheless, Mr. Vance’s political nous is unmistakable.

He endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential nomination in January 2023, when many in the Republican Party were cautiously holding back and wondering whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis might be a safer bet to win back the White House.

Trump insiders say the 78-year-old, known to value loyalty, has taken note of Mr. Vance’s early support.

He was rewarded when Trump announced at the GOP convention in Milwaukee in July: “The person best qualified to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance.”

Good friend of Donald Jr

His close friendship with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., played a major role in the decision. Don Jr. has long admired Mr. Vance’s ability to connect with the Trump base and his skills as a communicator.

Most importantly, Trump insiders say, is their belief that Mr. Vance’s sincerity will make him a more powerful advocate for their America-first platform.

“He really believes” in the policies he is promoting, the source said.

During his brief tenure in the US Senate, Mr Vance has questioned the legitimacy of the prosecutions against Trump and questioned the results of the 2020 election.

He has also been an outspoken critic of U.S. aid to Ukraine and moderated his position on abortion to align with Trump’s more ambiguous rhetoric on the issue.

The Trump campaign believes Mr. Vance’s ability to connect with Rust Belt voters, particularly in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania, will be a key asset on their path to the White House.

His political intelligence has given him a unique ability to connect with both working-class voters, thanks to his working-class background, and highly educated suburban voters who admire his Ivy League pedigree.

A gifted student, he served as a U.S. Marine before earning a bachelor’s degree in his home state and attending Yale Law School.

It was the dissociation with his colleagues at Yale that first shaped his conservatism.

It was also where he met his wife Usha, a California native of Indian descent, a highly successful lawyer and a registered Democrat until at least 2014. The couple has three children.

During the vice presidential debate, he repeatedly referred to his children and said he wanted to put forward a “pro-family” platform in the 2024 election.

“I have three beautiful little children at home, seven, four and two, and I love them very much,” he said.

After a stint in corporate law, Mr. Vance moved to San Francisco, where he made his fortune as a venture capitalist under technology billionaire and Republican activist Peter Thiel.

He left Silicon Valley to run for Senate, further shunning the world he had once inhabited with his fiercely pro-Trump stance.

“Not many people would make the decision to reject the charmed life that came with toasting the elites the way JD did,” his close friend told ABC News.

However, Mr. Vance has cultivated ties with key Silicon Valley players — particularly the influential Mr. Thiel — and has helped organize fundraisers with deep-pocketed donors for Trump’s campaign.

Amid the speculation about Mr. Vance’s choice as Trump’s running mate, much attention has also been paid to his beard, given Trump’s reported aversion to facial hair.

Some close to Mr. Vance say the focus on the superficial is actually a good metaphor for his political evolution. The shift from boyish puppy fat to full beard is representative of the “serious masculinism” he now embraces, a friend told the Washington Post.

Trump’s senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles believe Vance can still bridge the gap. Trump’s “success story,” they said, “combined with J.D. Vance’s inspiring biography, military service and dedication to America’s working families, will appeal to voters of all backgrounds across the country.

Together, the advisers said the pair is “the most unifying and competitive ticket in political history.”

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