Nevada delegates on board with VP selection

MILWAUKEE — Nevada delegates at the Republican National Convention expressed confidence in former President Donald Trump’s pick of U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate, especially in Vance’s ability to reach a younger generation of voters.

Vance, 39, will be the youngest candidate on a major-party ticket since Richard Nixon in 1953.

“I think it’s all about supporting the younger Republican who’s going to carry the torch and be the flagbearer for the rest in the next generations of the Republican Party here to come,” said Leo Blundo, chairman of the Nye County Republican Party, who is an alternate delegate at the convention.

Vance was a “never Trump” Republican in 2016, calling him “dangerous” and “unfit” for office. Vance, whose wife, lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance, is Indian American and the mother of their three children, also criticized Trump’s racist rhetoric, saying he could be “America’s Hitler.”

But by the time Vance met Trump in 2021, he had reversed his opinion, citing Trump’s accomplishments in office. Trump was clearly impressed and endorsed Vance against a crowded Republican primary field for the U.S. Senate in 2022 to propel him to an election victory.

Since his election to the Senate, Vance has been a fierce Trump ally on Capitol Hill, defending Trump’s policies and behavior. They have each downplayed Vance’s past criticism.

For Woodrow Johnston, an alternate Nevada delegate, Trump’s choice was a “strong” pick — and strengthened by Vance’s previous disdain for the former president.

“JD Vance is interesting because he was not a Day One Trump supporter,” said Johnston, a Las Vegas resident. “I think that is important, that you get people that maybe (saw) a characterization of Donald Trump that the media put out there, and they don’t like that characterization. But I think JD Vance kind of came to a sense — it’s like most of America is coming to their senses, that Donald Trump’s going to be our next president.”

Vance said he wouldn’t have certified the 2020 president election results immediately if he had been vice president and said Trump had “a very legitimate grievance.” He has put conditions on honoring the results of the 2024 election that echo Trump’s.

A litany of government and outside investigations have not found any election fraud that could have swung the outcome of Trump’s 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

“Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on Jan. 6: Bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chairwoman of Biden’s campaign, said in a statement Monday.

Vance received national attention in 2016 after his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” soared in popularity. The book details how Vance grew up in poverty in Ohio and dissects the working-class mindset of the rural United States.

Trump said Vance would be “strongly focused” in battleground states near his native Ohio, where residents in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are facing similar struggles. A win in those states could secure an Electoral College victory for Trump.

The Nevada Republican Party said Vance would work with Trump to “support the working class by attacking rampant inflation and the rising cost of living.”

“Sen. Vance not only brings a wealth of experience, youthful vigor and statesmanship to the ticket, but pairs perfectly with President Trump’s America-first movement,” the party said in a statement.

Sam Brown, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate in Nevada who is also attending the RNC, congratulated Vance on X.

“This decision represents a fresh wave of leadership that America desperately needs. Senator Vance is the epitome of the American success story, rising from humble origins to achieve great things,” Brown wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.