Trump chooses Ohio senator as running mate

Former US president Donald Trump announced on Monday that he has chosen Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.

Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social as delegates were formally voting to name him the Republican presidential nominee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the four-day Republican National Convention started on Monday.

"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 wrote.

Trump also pointed to Vance's potential appeal to voters in the Midwest.

"J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond," Trump wrote.

Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania helped propel US President Joe Biden to victory in 2020.

Vance, who will turn 40 (Trump is 78, Biden 81) in August, was once a strong critic of Trump, but as he began his 2022 Senate run, he deleted critical comments about Trump, said he was wrong, and credited Trump for the work he did in office as president. Trump then endorsed him in the Republican US Senate primary in Ohio.

Vance has been one of Trump's most vocal supporters, appearing outside the New York courthouse during Trump's criminal trial this year and on cable TV.

Trump was scalded by his experience with his vice-president in his first term, Mike Pence, who, after years of unwavering loyalty, had declined on Jan 6, 2021, to comply when Trump asked him to refuse to certify Biden's election victory.

"Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate because he will do what Mike Pence wouldn't on Jan 6: Bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA(Make America Great Again) agenda, even if it means breaking the law, and certainly no matter the harm to the American people," said Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon.

Biden posted a fundraising appeal on social media about the Vance selection, saying the Ohio senator "talks a big game about working people" but wants to raise taxes on the middle class while cutting them for the rich. "Protect democracy. Defeat Trump-Vance," his post said.

The convention started just two days after Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was struck by a bullet in the ear, and one attendee died after being shot by the gunman, who was killed by Secret Service snipers.

There were widespread calls for unity from Republicans and Democrats after the assassination attempt.

Best-selling author

Vance is an investor, venture capitalist and best-selling author of his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, in which he chronicled growing up in a family beset by drug addiction and poverty.

Born in Middleton, Ohio, he served in the US Marine Corps for four years, including a six-month deployment to Iraq, before studying political science and philosophy at Ohio State University and going on to graduate from Yale Law School. He went on to work at a large corporate law firm and then as a principal at an investment firm in San Francisco.

In 2022, Vance was elected to the Senate after defeating former Democratic representative Tim Ryan for an open seat in Ohio.

He has opposed US aid to Ukraine and opposes abortion, saying the government should find ways to encourage people to have children.

In the Senate, Vance has pushed both bipartisan and conservative legislation.

He introduced a rail safety bill with Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, Ohio's senior senator, after last year's train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Vance also worked with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on legislation to hold executives accountable for failed banks.

Before the announcement, Trump learned that a judge had thrown out a federal classified documents case filed against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

A federal judge in Florida dismissed the case, siding with defense lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

Hours later, Smith's office said it would appeal the order.

Agencies contributed to this story.