A bitter Donald Trump in 2016, 39-year-old Ohio Senator James David Vance is now the presidential candidate's running mate.
As the Republican National Convention 2024 kickstarted on Monday, Trump announced Vance as his pick for his running mate for the November elections.
During the 2016 presidential election, Vance had called Trump an "idiot" and said that he was "reprehensible". He even compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Known for being a best-selling author for his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy", Vance had a change of heart six years later during his run for Senate in 2022. He embraced Trump and demonstrated loyalty to the Republican leader.
Vance even downplayed the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, sufficiently showing his support to the former President.
James David Vance, born in Ohio's Middletown, had enlisted in the Marines and deployed to Iraq, dealing with public affairs work. He attended Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
Before venturing into politics, Vance had a career in finance, working for conservative venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Later, Vance founded his own venture capital firm.
The best-selling author married Indian American Usha Chilukuri in 2014 and has three children with her -- Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel. The two had met at Yale Law School and Mrs Vance had helped him in his political career ever since, including now, during his nomination as Trump's Vice Presidential pick.
During the 2016 US general elections, Vance had described Trump as "cultural heroin" and as a political agitator who was "leading he white working class to a very dark place", a New York Times report said.
However, in 2022, he rebuilt himself as a Trump supporter and became one of the staunch supporters of the former US President's "Make America Great Again" agenda, especially on issues like trade, foreign police and immigration.
Vance's "mentor, Wyoming Republican Senator John Barraso told Reuters that the former's views on Trump changed because "he saw the successes that President Trump as President brought to the country".
Vance's graph of rising from poverty to finance career to US senator and now to vice presidential candidate was described by David Niven, an associate professor of politics at the University of Cincinnati.
"To the extend that he can do anything for the ticket, it would be to recapture the voice of the American dream," Niven said.
Notably, Vance caught Trump Junior's eye when he opposed the aid to Ukraine during the Ohio Senate primary in 2022, a stance that put him at odds with other Republicans in the race.
Vance reportedly shares a close relationship with Trump Jr, the eldest son of the now Republican presidential candidate.
"Vance is an echo to Trump, not a new voice," said Niven.
