Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) appears to be the odds-on likeliest pick for former President Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 presidential election — but what if he isn't chosen?
Vance, a former venture capitalist and author of "Hillbilly Elegy" who went from Never Trump to full-on MAGA to win Ohio's Senate seat two years ago, has quickly become one of Trump's most loyal defenders in the Senate, vowing that he would block election results Trump doesn't like and defending the far-right Project 2025 agenda. If that isn't enough to get him the spot, wrote Ben Mathis-Lilley for Slate, then it may be enough to destroy his future ambitions.
"There are good, conventional reasons to believe Trump might choose Vance," wrote Mathis-Lilley. "In a contest that’s (currently) hyperfocused on aging and verbal facility, he’s young (39) and a good TV talker. He’s from Ohio, which could in theory help make him a persuasive liaison to voters in the neighboring swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania (although when he ran for Senate in 2022, he actually underperformed other Republicans in the state and won his race by a narrower margin than the one Trump had beaten Biden by two years prior). He’s well-liked by Silicon Valley’s burgeoning right-wing ruling class, which could be useful for mega-scale fundraising."
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However, he wrote, it's also possible that he could end up as "2024’s Chris Christie, the ambitious self-promoter who has a conveniently timed change of heart about Trump that advances him just far enough into veep consideration to get maximally humiliated." Christie was ultimately damaged by his proximity to the Trump universe, and when he ran against Trump in 2024, he failed to make any meaningful impact.
And ultimately, even if he does stay in Trump's inner circle, concluded Mathis-Lilley, it doesn't guarantee him a solid future, as those closest to Trump often end up getting ruined anyway.
"Bannon is in jail and faces further prosecution for a moneymaking scheme he got involved in after being exiled from the White House," he wrote Friday. "Giuliani is bankrupt and disbarred, and Christie almost died because Trump (probably) gave him COVID. Vance, who has Bannon’s grandiose society-rearranging dreams and the others’ chameleonic political history, might want to be careful."