JD Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio and Donald Trump's newly announced vice presidential pick, is hitting the campaign trail with rallies in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, and Radford, Virginia. Vance was raised in poverty in America's Rust Belt and has emphasized his background growing up in the Midwest as crucial to connecting with voters in critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Vice President Harris spoke at the White House on Monday morning during an event honoring NCAA college athletes. The Democratic National Convention is set for next month in Chicago, where Harris is expected to be officially nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Meanwhile, Vance's wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and their children have faced racist online backlash due to their Indian ancestry. Anti-Asian hate from far-right figures has garnered hundreds of thousands of views online.
Joe Scarborough criticized Trump's pick of Vance as his vice presidential candidate, expressing concerns about the Republican ticket's stance on women's rights and abortion. Vance has taken strong anti-abortion positions in the past, even suggesting a national abortion ban with no exceptions. Women currently comprise 51% of the voting-age population in the US, and their votes have been influential in recent elections.
Biden's decision to withdraw from the White House race may make Vance a liability for Trump due to his stance on women's rights and abortion. Trump already had an electability problem among women voters, and Vance's anti-abortion positions and past statements about divorce may compound this problem.
The sources used in this article include articles from Fox News, ABC News, ABC7 Chicago, The Hill, and Politico EU.