President Trump has chosen Senator Vance, the conservative Ohio populist, to be his running mate in the 2024 election after months of anticipation. 

The former president made the announcement in a Truth Social post Monday afternoon. 

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said. The former president highlighted Mr. Vance’s record as a Marine, a graduate of Yale Law School, and a bestselling author. 

Mr. Vance, at just 39 years old, will be the youngest vice presidential nominee of a major political party since President Nixon ran with President Eisenhower in 1952. The Ohio senator was elected in just 2022, making him a candidate with some of the least experience in modern history. 

He has made his mark as an “anti-woke” warrior in the upper chamber, and has made it clear that American foreign policy must be geared much more toward the interests of the American middle class rather than goals like protecting democracy abroad and upholding international defense obligations. 

Mr. Vance’s stances on foreign policy issues — including saying that America should play a small, if not nonexistent, role in helping Ukraine in their war with Russia — does not frighten some of the more establishment members of his party. 

Senator Cornyn, the number two Republican in the upper chamber, tells the Sun that the GOP has been having thoughtful foreign policy debates within the party for more than 100 years. 

“These discussions on how active the United States ought to be around the world have been long-standing disputes, going back to at least World War I,” Mr. Cornyn said, adding that he was happy to see “a new generation of people” taking the helm of the Republican Party. 

A senior advisor to Trump who was granted anonymity to speak freely tells the Sun that choosing Mr. Vance as the veep candidate is a sign that the GOP is playing offense between now and November. 

“J.D. [Vance] is going to do well with veterans. Huge veteran population in New Hampshire … Huge veteran population in Virginia,” the source says. “It’s gonna be a battle to the end. Why was Vance the best pick for that? Because he’s young, because he’s a Marine. … There are alot of people who said: ‘Leave him in the U.S. Senate’, and there are alot of people who said that because he may have been the president’s best advocate in the Senate.”

Speaker McCarthy, who spoke briefly to the Sun after the announcement, says Mr. Vance will help the party do well in the typical “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

Mr. Vance will face off with Vice President Harris in a debate in the coming weeks, either on July 23 or August 13. The vice president herself has been subject to much speculation in recent weeks after President Biden’s disastrous June debate performance that led many Democrats to question the president’s fitness to lead the ticket this year. 

Given the ages of both Trump and Mr. Biden, the vice presidential candidates shoulder more weight than ever before. Polling shows that a majority of Americans believe both candidates are too old to serve a second term, though Mr. Biden fares far worse. According to a recent ABC News poll, 85 percent of Americans believe Mr. Biden is too old for the job, while 60 percent say the same of Trump. 

Ms. Harris, at age 59, is seen by many as the future of the Democratic Party despite concerns about her political viability based on polling.