JD Vance's positions on abortion, the 2020 election, Ukraine and more as Trump's new VP pick

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has chosen Sen. JD Vance, an Ohio Republican, to be his vice presidential running mate, catapulting the first-term senator into the national spotlight.

Vance was an outspoken Trump critic during the 2016 presidential campaign, the same year Vance was promoting his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” He has since transformed into one of Trump’s staunchest MAGA allies over 18 months in the Senate, after winning a 2022 race for an open seat in red-trending Ohio.

As a senator, Vance is known for his "America First" skepticism of U.S. involvement in global affairs like the war in Ukraine and his opposition to bipartisan deals on government funding. He has also helped lead a rail safety bill across party lines in the wake of last year's deadly train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. And Vance has echoed Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election, which the ex-president has put front and center in his campaign as he continues to promote false claims that it was stolen from him.

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Unlike some other vice presidential prospects, Vance was not in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, and didn’t vote on certifying President Joe Biden’s victory. In a February 2024 interview on ABC News, Vance endorsed the claim that the 2020 election was problematic and said Congress should have considered competing slates of electors.

“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” Vance said. “That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, [had] a lot of problems in 2020. I think that’s what