Vance Honed Populist Views in the Senate, Auditioning for Trump

Senator J.D. Vance, a newcomer to the Senate from Ohio, stood on the chamber floor in April and scolded his more experienced colleagues for their desire to continue backing Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.

“Have we learned nothing?” Mr. Vance railed as the Senate debated a stalled military aid package to Ukraine, referring to the debacles of the Iraq War. “Have we updated nothing about our mental thinking, about the standard that we apply for when we should get involved in military conflicts?”

Mr. Vance, a Republican elected in 2022 and a strident opponent of assisting Ukraine, lost later that day when the Senate gave overwhelming bipartisan approval to tens of millions of dollars of assistance for Ukraine.

But that defeat helped position him for a real victory this week, when former President Donald J. Trump chose Mr. Vance, 39, as his running mate. In many ways, Mr. Vance’s short time in the Senate was a high-stakes audition for that post, where he showcased his willingness to break with Republican orthodoxy and his lawyerly ability to mount a public case for MAGA policies both at abroad and at home.

Mr. Vance has moved on to the national stage after an extraordinarily short time in the Senate — 18 months — during which some senators historically may not have even given their maiden speech on the floor.