Trump VP pick Vance vows to fight for ‘forgotten’ Americans

By then a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, he later mended fences with Trump.

He won the former president’s endorsement and was elected to the Senate in 2022, taking office the following year.

Democrats have seized on some of Mr Vance’s past statements, including that he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine” and support for a nationwide abortion ban.

He has recently moderated his stance on abortion to align with the official Republican platform, which says the issue should be decided by individual states.

He did not mention the war in Ukraine during his speech, or say much at all about foreign policy, which was the theme of the third day of the party conference.

Mr Vance did say that US allies must share in the burden of securing world peace and America would avoid conflict but “punch hard” if provoked under a second Trump presidency.

He began his speech by talking about last Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump.

“They accused him of being a tyrant,” he said. “They said he must be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm.”

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Mr. Vance blamed it on Mr. Biden’s rhetoric and his warnings that his Republican rival posed a threat to democracy.

Most Americans had little knowledge of him until Wednesday night.

A CNN poll conducted last month showed that 13% of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of Mr. Vance and 20% an unfavorable one – nearly two-thirds either had never heard of him or had no opinion.

Some convention-goers on Wednesday said they were still learning about his biography.

Cindy Dore and Jackie Canon, two Republican delegates from Louisiana, said they were excited by Trump’s pick.

“He’s young, vibrant,” Ms Dore said.

She said she appreciated Hillbilly Elegy, but other than that, she didn’t know a lot about Mr Vance.

The speeches began shortly after it was announced that President Biden had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and temporarily suspended campaign activities.

The climax of the Republican convention will be Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday night.

Chris Devine – an associate professor of politics at the University of Dayton and co-author of Do Running Mates Matter? – told the BBC that vice-presidential picks tend to have quite a small effect on the overall race.

“If it’s the case that people look at JD Vance and see him as insufficiently experienced, they will think less of Donald Trump and his judgment,” he says. “Not by a lot, but potentially on the margins.”

But Mr Devine also noted that Mr Vance is an “incredibly talented communicator” despite being a relative political newcomer.