Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) was with his 7-year-old son when former President Donald Trump asked him to be his vice president, a moment he said he will “never forget.”
Vance detailed how his son was “making noise” in the background when Trump called him, and he said he was initially “embarrassed.” The Ohio senator also noted he was not sure if the call was confirmation that he was Trump’s pick for vice president, as Trump could have been calling him to tell him he would not get the job.
“It’s the call, who knows whether it’s good or bad,” Vance said on Fox News’s Hannity. “But then he actually has me put my 7-year-old son on the phone. You think about this, everything that’s happened, the guy just got shot at a couple of days ago, and he takes the time to talk to my 7-year-old. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
Vance revealed that when Trump offered him the role of his vice presidential nominee, the former president claimed Vance was the candidate who could help him “in the best way,” including appealing to voters in mid-West states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. Vance also referenced how the two have been “very, very close for a long time” and argued he would not have won his 2022 Senate race had Trump not endorsed him.
Vance was then asked about his past criticism of Trump in the mid-2010s, including a claim he made in 2016 that Trump could be “America’s Hitler.” In response, Vance said he would not hide from his previous criticism of Trump, who he said had “changed my mind” once he saw Trump’s performance as president.
“If you go back to what I thought in 2016, another thing that was going on, Sean, is I bought into the media’s lies and distortions,” Vance said. “I bought into this idea that somehow he was going to be so different, a terrible threat to democracy. It was a joke! Joe Biden is the one who’s trying to throw his political opposition in jail. Joe Biden is the one who’s trying to undermine American law and order. President Trump did a really good job, and I actually think it’s a good thing when you see somebody, you were wrong about him, you ought to admit the mistake and admit that you were wrong.”
Sean Hannity said he asked Trump about Vance’s past criticisms of him. Trump acknowledged Vance’s previous comments but stated, “He doesn’t think that way now.”
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Trump’s selection of Vance as his running mate makes Vance, 39, the youngest vice presidential nominee since former President Dwight Eisenhower picked Richard Nixon in 1952. On X, Vance stated he was “just overwhelmed with gratitude” and called it “an honor” to be Trump’s running mate.
Some have speculated that Vance’s selection as vice president could shape the Republican Party within the next decade, as the senator could become the party’s favorite when selecting its 2028 presidential candidate.
