Donald Trump reveals Ohio Senator JD Vance is his running mate

Donald Trump has announced that Ohio Senator JD Vance — who once proposed to ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state — is his running mate for the US presidential election.

While the current president Joe Biden has been working with Vice President Kamala Harris since she became his running mate in August 2020, Trump has only recently revealed who he has chosen as his Republican running mate for the general election this year.

The former president, who is currently rallying for a non-consecutive year second presidential term, announced his new running mate to be Vance via his social network, Truth Social.

Trump – who was targeted in an assassination attempt last week – revealed that the 39-year-old former venture capitalist will be his running mate for the US election in November. Vance is a New York Times best-selling author and graduated from Yale Law School. 

He also proposed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors during his time as Ohio Senator. Vance announced the bill, called the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act”, in 2023. 

The bill mirrored several proposed bans on gender-affirming healthcare across the US by outlawing gender-affirming surgeries and physically reversible puberty blockers for minors.

“Under no circumstances should doctors be allowed to perform these gruesome, irreversible operations on underage children,” Vance said in a statement at the time, after announcing the bill.

His new role might come as a shock to some, given he reportedly once called himself a “never Trumper”. Vance reportedly described the prospective president as an “idiot” and “America’s Hitler” after his 2016 election win.

In recent times, though, Vance has appeared to change his tune. It was reported that the politician attended the former president’s recent hush money trial in New York.