Trivia

Became the 50th vice president of the United States on January 20, 2025.

He was named James Donald Bowman at birth, after his father Donald Bowman. His parents divorced when he was young and his mother remarried to Bob Hamel, who adopted JD, and his name was changed to James David Hamel (David after a great-uncle, replacing his estranged father's name). He continued using Hamel as his last name after his mother and stepfather divorced. He changed his last name to Vance, his maternal grandparents' last name, shortly before he graduated from Yale in 2013.

He is the first person with prominent facial hair to appear on a major American party's presidential ticket since Thomas E. Dewey (mustache) in 1948, and the first with a full beard since Charles Evans Hughes in 1916.

A vocal opponent of Donald Trump in 2016, he later changed his tune after launching his campaign for the U.S. Senate from Ohio. The first month of his campaign was built on taking back his anti-Trump sentiments as well as deleting all previous posts in which he warned his followers against a Trump presidency. Vance had been trailing in the polls for the Republican nomination before Trump endorsed him.

On July 15, 2024, he was announced as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate.

Former student of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Being two weeks shy of his 40th birthday at the time of the 2024 Republican National Convention, he was the youngest major party vice presidential nominee since Richard Nixon in 1952, who was also 39 but six months younger at the time of his nomination.

Vance is 38 years younger than Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, which is the biggest age gap ever for candidates on an American major party ticket, surpassing the 30 year gap between James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge in 1856.

Vance is known for frequently using the phrase "childless cat ladies" to refer to political opponents, claiming they have no interest in the future of the country because of their childlessness. He first used the term in 2021 to refer to Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pete Buttigieg, even though none fit his characterization: Harris has two stepchildren and no pets, Ocasio-Cortez's only pet is a French bulldog, and Buttigieg is a documented dog owner, has two adoptive children, and is not a lady.

U.S. senator from Ohio, 2023-2025.

Beginning his term at 40, he is the third youngest U.S. vice president, after John C. Breckinridge (36) and Richard Nixon (40).

He usually appeared clean shaven in public prior to his Senate run in 2022, upon which he grew a beard as a visual distinction for his new political career.

Although his book "Hillbilly Elegy" stylizes his name as J.D. on the cover, he says his preferred spelling of his name that he personally uses is JD without periods.