USA – Donald Trump has picked Senator JD Vance of Ohio, a once-fierce critic turned loyal ally, as his Republican running mate. Trump unveiled his pick on his Truth Social social media network on Monday as supporters gathered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Republican National Convention (RNC), an extravaganza turbocharged by the attempted assassination of the former president two days earlier.

“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.

A venture capitalist, Vance, 39, graduated from Yale Law School and served in the US military during the Iraq War before being elected to represent Ohio in the Senate. He will represent a younger generation in the November 5 presidential election, which features Trump, 78, and President Joe Biden, 81, who is running on the Democratic Party ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris, 59.

Vance is a staunch conservative from a Republican state, but he was once a fierce Trump critic. Reporting from the RNC in Milwaukee, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said that changed in 2021 when Vance was running for an open Senate seat and he told Fox News that he had been wrong about Trump. “He got a late-minute endorsement from Trump right before the primary campaign for that Senate seat and won. It was a very close race, a very expensive race,” Culhane said. She added that since then, Vance has become “very close” to Trump and “a surrogate for him on the campaign trail”. (Al Jazeera)…[+]