Former President Donald Trump named US Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his Vice Presidential running mate on July 15, 2024 at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Annabelle Gordon/CNP/ZUMA
Former President Donald Trump announced his selection of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) to join his 2024 ticket as vice president on Monday afternoon.
Within about 24 hours, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had made its own selection: the argument it would deploy against Vance in its first paid advertisement to include the new veep pick.
The DNC’s new advertisement—obtained by Mother Jones ahead of its public release—depicts a montage of Trump’s and Vance’s public comments on abortion, as well as past news clips showcasing the Hillbilly Elegy author and former Never Trumper’s absolutist position on abortion.
“There’s something comparable between abortion and slavery,” an audio recording of Vance says during the DNC’s new ad.
“There’s something comparable between abortion and slavery,” an audio recording of Vance says during the DNC’s 90-second spot, which will appear on YouTube. It will also play on a roving mobile billboard around the Republican National Convention’s perimeter during Vance’s first official speech as Trump’s vice presidential pick, which he is expected to make Wednesday evening in Milwaukee.
On the ground at the Wisconsin convention, several RNC delegates and alternates—mostly women—told me they were thrilled with the selection of Vance because they share his abortion beliefs, which at times have included no exceptions for either rape or incest. “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said a few years ago, according to the Washington Post. Moreover, in a 2022 Senate debate, Vance said he approved of states making their own reproductive laws, but clarified that he was “totally fine” with a “minimum national standard” on abortion.
In recent months, Vance and the broader GOP have quieted their rhetoric on abortion, perhaps in response to how the issue has alienated voters, including many Republicans. According to Pew Research Center, 63 percent of Americans say abortion “should be legal in all or most cases.” Among Republican and lean-Republican voters, more than 40 percent support abortion in all or most cases.
Distinct from 2016, this year’s Republican National Committee platform does not explicitly include support of a 2o-week federal restriction on abortion, nor does it mention a bill that would amend the Constitution to say life begins at conception. (But as my colleague Julianne McShane reported, one of the three project leads behind the platform said of the document: “There’s not as many words describing it, but there’s protection under the Constitution, that life is protected.”)
The DNC’s new ad attempts to remind voters of the more hardline views the GOP, Trump, and Vance have shared in recent history. For example, a testy exchange between Trump and former MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews back from 2016:
“Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no? As a principle?” Matthews asked.
“The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment,” Trump said.
“For the woman?” Matthews clarified. “Yeah, there has to be some form,” Trump said.
The video advertisement also incorporates Trump saying, more recently, that he was “proud to have” gotten Roe v. Wade “terminated” by appointing to the Supreme Court conservative justices who overturned the 5o-year-old legal precedent.
“Donald Trump selected JD Vance as his vice presidential nominee because they share the same goal of banning abortion nationwide. The MAGA ticket is running on the Project 2025 agenda—which would see abortion banned in every state, with or without the help of Congress. Vance opposes abortion access—even for victims of rape and incest,” says DNC spokesperson Aida Ross. “Americans will not let these out-of-touch views become the law of the land.”
