ATLANTA — Ohio Sen. JD Vance is officially on the ticket alongside former President Donald Trump as he vies to return to the White House. The 39-year-old politician was once a staunch critic of the former president.
11Alive spoke with a handful of Georgia voters, many who leaned right politically, and it was mixed on whether they were familiar with Vance or not.
“Oh yes, he’s a senator from Ohio. He was a very anti-Trump, but now he has moved forward to seeing from both sides of the street,” shared one man in Buckhead.
Another woman said she wasn’t a fan on Vance because of his tie to Trump.
"What I’ve read about him, I don’t like him," she said.
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At just 39-years-old, only serving his first term in Senate, Vance would become the third youngest vice president if Trump's elected. Many voters 11Alive spoke with shared they heard of Vance after reading his memoir, "The Hillbilly Elegy," which depicts the Ohio native’s life growing up in poverty.
“I know he came from an abusive home, his grandma raised him, he pulled himself up with bootstraps. He’s a great American, he’s a Marine, and he’s the next vice president of the United States,” said another voter.
While some voters revealed that they hadn’t heard of him prior to his nomination, there were many that agreed his youthfulness was an asset.
“The ages of both Trump and Biden are both kind of unappealing to what we want to run the country so picking someone like JD Vance who is a part of a younger demographic – that will for sure help him (Trump),” said a younger voter.