Former President Donald Trump has picked Sen. J.D. Vance — an author and former venture capitalist who has been dismissive of climate change concerns but outspoken on rail safety — to be his vice presidential running mate.
Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s presidential race, announced his pick Monday on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Vance beat out other running-mate finalists, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida. Trump announced his decision on social media as delegates were casting their nomination votes.
“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the platform he owns, referring to mainly swing states in the election.
“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
Vance was first elected to the Senate in 2022, beating then-Rep. Tim Ryan (D) in the race to replace Republican Rob Portman, who retired.
He rose to prominence in 2016 for writing “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir about growing up in rural Kentucky, which was later adapted to a feature film. He served in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent in public affairs.
Vance’s record
Vance ran on an ardently pro-Trump agenda that focused heavily on opposing “woke” policies. He railed heavily against environmental, social and governance investing, calling it “a massive racket to enrich Wall Street and enrich the financial sector of the country, at the expense of the industries that actually employ a lot of Ohio’s workers for middle-class jobs.”
One of Vance’s top priorities since taking office has been the response to the February 2023 train derailment and disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.
Vance has pushed for an aggressive response by government and industry to the disaster and has taken on government officials, rail executives and some Republicans in his advocacy.
He’s a lead sponsor of the “Railway Safety Act,” S. 576, a bipartisan bill that would mandate a set of new safety standards and fines for the freight rail sector, especially trains carrying hazardous materials.
At a March 2023 hearing on the bill, Vance argued that some in the GOP “seem to think any public safety enhancements for the rail industry is somehow a violation of the free market.”
“This is an industry that just three months ago had the federal government come in and save them from a labor dispute,” he said, referring to Biden administration action to avert a nationwide rail strike.
“It was effectively a bailout, and now they’re claiming before the Senate and the House that our reasonable regulation, our reasonable regulation, is somehow a violation of the free market?”
The legislation has the support of Senate Democrats and some Republicans but has faced opposition from GOP leadership. It remains stalled.
Views on climate change
Vance’s energy and environmental agenda in the Senate has aligned closely with the Republican Party. The senator has been dismissive of concerns about climate change.
“Even if there was a climate crisis, I don’t know how the way to solve it is to buy more Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles,” he said in 2022, saying the idea of an environmental crisis was “created” to please Democratic donors.
Two years earlier, Vance said society had a “climate problem” because cleaner sources of energy have not taken significant market share.
He has sought to put significant blame on China for greenhouse gas emissions. In a 2023 hearing with Kevin Welsh, the Federal Aviation Administration’s top official for environmental policy, Vance criticized the Biden administration’s endorsement of climate policies from the International Civil Aviation Organization and dismissed carbon offsets in aviation as “climate reparations.”
“Why are we doing so much to follow ICAO’s recommendations, when the Chinese themselves are not doing very much?” Vance asked.
“When you think about the fact that China is the dirtiest economy in the world — they emit about two times as much carbon as we do — why are we effectively penalizing the American aviation while we don’t require, or even attempt, to force the Chinese to do the same to their aviation industry?”
Vance last year introduced the “Drive American Act,” S. 2962, which would repeal the federal tax credit for electric vehicles and instead offer tax credits for U.S.-made vehicles powered only by gasoline or diesel.
He also introduced legislation to double maximum penalties for climate change protesters and others who target exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution and National Gallery of Art.
Vance has opposed and sought to scrutinize EPA regulations, including on gasoline-powered generators and methylene chloride, a paint stripper chemical linked to cancer. He’s also dismissed environmental justice as an excuse to offshore American jobs.
Vance has called Democratic action on climate “dumb” and a “handout to Chinese companies at the expense of Ohio workers.”
But he recently told POLITICO’s E&E News that if some local companies support certain Inflation Reduction Act provisions, lawmakers might want to keep them instead of repealing the entire law.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is mostly a lot of green energy stuff. And I think it’s made our economy less energy independent. It’s also added a lot of costs out there and a lot of federal spending that’s forced the inflation prices,” said Vance.
“And I also think that it’s sort of hastening a transition away from things like the gas driven cars that most Americans don’t want. So I think there’s a lot of bad policy in there. Also a lot of inflationary policy in there. And I’d like to see a lot of it gotten rid of.”
Greens react
Environmental advocates who support Biden quickly denounced Trump’s choice of Vance. He has a zero percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters.
“Donald Trump’s anti-climate, anti-environment agenda is reinforced with his pick of J.D. Vance as the Republican vice-presidential nominee,” David Kieve, president of EDF Action, said in a statement. EDF Action is the advocacy arm of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Lori Lodes, executive director of the group Climate Power, said, “J.D. Vance is Donald Trump’s dream come true — a climate denier who is all too happy to do Big Oil’s bidding and pad their profits at the expense of working people.”
Climate Power debuted an art installation Monday near the Republican convention site to raise awareness about climate change.
Conservative climate activists plan to make their case this week, as well. Heather Reams, president of the Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, said the group didn’t “have a lot of experience” working with Vance but sees him as an ally in terms of his background being from a manufacturing state.
“He is aligned with Trump on competitiveness with China,” she said. “I remember him being on the campaign trail and supportive of the CHIPS Act and thinking about superconductors and other things, being competitive with China.”
She said that while “the environmental left and center have a lot of concerns,” the Republican Party is a “big tent, we’re ‘all of the above,’ we’re talking about producing more in the United States, and when America produces, emissions go down.”
Republicans Monday approved a platform leaders said was personally reviewed and edited by Trump, It promises to increase all forms of energy production but doesn’t mention climate change.
If Trump wins in November, Vance would step down from the Senate, where Republicans currently hold 49 seats, while Democrats and independents who caucus with them have 51.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, would pick a successor, but told Fox News “it’s much too early” to talk about who he would choose. Vance, 39, would be one of the youngest vice presidents in history.
Reporters Kelsey Brugger and Emma Dumain contributed.
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