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Ohio Senator JD Vance, a MAGA loyalist, has been selected by Donald Trump as his running mate for the 2024 Republican presidential ticket.
A relative newcomer, Vance initially made a name for himself with his bestselling 2016 book, Hillby Elegy, a memoir of his upbringing in a poor, white Appalachian community.
Though he was once a vocal critic of Trump, Vance has cozied up to the former president and adopted many of his policies.
Trump’s decision to make Vance his VP pick has catapulted the senator into the spotlight. Here’s what to know about some of Vance’s key policies.
Abortion
Vance personally opposes abortion in nearly all instances but his policy positions have flip-flopped over the years.
Before being elected to Congress, Vance expressed persistent anti-abortion views. When asked if anti-abortion laws should have exceptions for rape and incest in 2021, he responded: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
But in an interview last year, Vance said that there must be “exceptions for the life of the mother and rape and so forth”.
When asked about a 15-week national abortion ban during a 2022 debate, he said: “Some minimum national standard is totally fine with me.”
But he then said that he would “like it to be primarily a state issue” and believes it’s “reasonable” for each state to have a different abortion policy. That echoes Trump’s stance on the issue.
Vance celebrated the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade in 2022 and has voted against legislation that would have provided protections for IVF and a bill that would have codified the right to abortion.
Immigration
Vance believes in harsh immigration policies that would severely restrict or deter people from crossing into the US through the Southern border – similar to Trump.
The Ohio lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent universities that receive federal funding from hiring migrants; stop “sanctuary cities” that receive migrants from receiving federal housing grants; and allow states along the US-Mexico border to put up barbed wire.
The senator called Trump’s “Remain In Mexico” policy “one of the smartest immigration policies of the last 30 years.”
He has often used anti-immigration rhetoric like calling migrants “illegals” and mass immigration an “invasion”. He has baselessly accused migrants crossing the Southern border of taking jobs from American citizens, driving up crime rates and contributing to rising home prices.
Vance has also proliferated the white nationalist conspiracy theory known as “The Great Replacement” by claiming President Joe Biden is replacing US citizens with migrants to help him win the presidential election.
Inflation
Like many lawmakers, Vance has acknowledged the problem of inflation and criticized President Biden and other Democrats for contributing to it. But Vance has not specifically introduced legislation that would directly combat that.
On the economy as a whole, Vance has taken a slightly different approach than his Republican colleagues. He has suggested raising taxes on large corporations and introducing legislation to limit large corporate mergers.
The Ohio senator recently suggested enacting “broad-based tariffs” on imported goods, especially those made in China, to “protect American industries from all the competition.” This falls closely in line with Trump’s policy on tariffs.
