J.D. Vance is set to give his first speech at the RNC as Trump’s vice presidential nominee

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Introducing himself to the nation after Donald Trump picked him to be his vice president, J.D. Vance plans to share the story of his difficult upbringing and argue that the GOP ticket best understands the challenges facing many Americans in his address Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention.

The 39-year-old Ohio senator is relatively unknown politically. In his first primetime speech since being nominated for vice president, Vance is expected to talk about growing up in poverty in Kentucky and Ohio, with a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, and how he later rose to the highest levels of American politics.

Vance, which has changed rapidly in recent years From a harsh critic of the former president As an aggressive defender, he is positioned to be the potential leader of the former president’s political movement that has reshaped the Republican Party and shattered longstanding political norms. The first millennial to join the top of a major party’s ticket, he enters the race at a time when questions are rife about the ages of those at the top — the 78-year-old Trump and the 81-year-old Biden – This issue has been at the top of the list of voters’ concerns.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Vance also said he would push hard for the former president’s reelection.

“The person who really connects with working people in this country is not fake Scranton Joe, but the real President Donald Trump,” Vance said, referring to President Joe Biden.

Along with being relatively young, he is also unfamiliar with some of the nuances of Republican presidential politics: This year’s gathering is the first R.N.C. that Vance has attended, according to a Trump campaign official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

He has joined this campaign at a time when Republican leaders have called for unity after Trump’s election victory. Assassination attempts At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Still, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed out in an address to Iowa Republicans on Wednesday, Trump’s pick of Vance was more a step toward transforming the party rather than selecting a traditional figure to “unite” Republicans.

“He had time to think it over, and his answer was, ‘No, the people are not there for me so that I can compromise. The people are there for me so that we can get the job done,'” Gingrich said, “and I need somebody who believes in what we’re doing. And I’m not going to be approached by somebody who’s not who we are.”

Vance is an Ivy League graduate and a businessman, but his History “Hillbilly Elegy” explores his blue-collar roots. It catapulted him to national fame when it was published in 2016. The book is now seen as a glimpse into some of the cultural forces that propelled Trump to the White House that year.

Still, most Americans — and Republicans — don’t know much about Vance. new poll According to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Trump chose the freshman senator as his vice presidential running mate, 6 in 10 Americans don’t know enough about Vance to form an opinion. About 2 in 10 American adults have a positive view of him, and 22% have a negative view of him. Among Republicans, 61% don’t know enough about Vance to form an opinion. About one-quarter have a positive view of him, and about 1 in 10 have a negative view of him.

His wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, will also deliver a speech on Wednesday night, according to a person familiar with the programme.

Beyond Vance’s primetime speech, Republicans on Wednesday focused on the theme of American global strength. Speakers were to include family members of military personnel killed during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and a family member of someone taken hostage during the war. 7 October attacks In Israel, the person said.

Republicans argue that Biden has made the country a “laughing stock around the world” and were expected to pursue his theme of “making America strong again.” This is expected to include undoing Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, which has redefined relations with some allies and adversaries.

Democrats have sharply criticized Trump and Vance for their positions, including questioning U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.

In a video released by Biden’s reelection campaign on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed Vance, saying Trump “knew he would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda.”

“Make no mistake about it: J.D. Vance will only be loyal to Trump, not to our country,” Harris said in a video.

Vance has become one of Trump’s most aggressive supporters as the former president seeks a third term in office, sparring with reporters, campaigning on his behalf and appearing with the candidate at his trial in New York.

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This story has been updated to correct the dates of speeches scheduled from Thursday through Wednesday.

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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Michelle L. Price and Bill Barrow (in Milwaukee) and Will Weisert and Mary Clare Jalonick (in Washington) contributed to this report.