5 Things You Might Not Know About J.D. Vance: ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author, Bitcoin Holder, First Millennial VP Pick And More
By Benzinga
Former President Donald Trump has selected Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) to be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
The Senator has grown in popularity in the Republican Party in recent years, but many across the nation may be unfamiliar with his history. Here’s a look at five things you might not know about the vice-presidential candidate.
1. Author
“Hillbilly Elegy”: Vance is the author of the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was also turned into a movie that Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) had the distribution rights to and now streams on their platform.
The book, which is called “A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” went on to be a New York Times Bestseller.
Vance’s book tells the story of his upbringing in rural Kentucky and later in blue collar Ohio.
“From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class,” a description of the book reads.
The movie adaptation of the book starred Glenn Close, Amy Adams and Gabriel Basso, who portrayed Vance. Close was nominated for an Academy Award for Supporting Actress. The film also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup & Hairstyling.
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2. Early Political Aspirations
Rise at Young Age: The memoir helped Vance gain popularity and later led to a political shift. Vance won a Senate seat in the 2022 election, defeating Democrat Tim Ryan. A Senator since 2023, Vance’s selection as the running mate for Trump came with some questions about his age and experience.
Vance will turn 40 in August. If Trump and Vance win the election, the senator will become the youngest vice president since Richard Nixon, who served two terms under President Dwight Eisenhower beginning in 1953.
The Senator would become the third-youngest vice president in American history if Trump wins. Nixon (40) and John Breckenridge (36) would be the only vice presidents younger than Vance.
Born in 1984, Vance is officially the first Millennial to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate for a major party in a presidential race.
3. Career
Venture Capitalist: Before his career in politics, Vance was a venture capitalist and has investment experience in the technology sector and connections to several notable venture capitalists.
Vance was a former principal at Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital in 2016 and 2017. He later left Mithril to work at Revolution LLC in 2017, an investment firm founded by AOL founder Steve Case.
In 2019, Vance co-founded Narya Capital, a venture capital fund. The fund received backing from Theil, Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen.
One of Narya Capital’s investments is in Rumble Inc (NASDAQ:RUM), a video sharing platform.
4. Investments And Cryptocurrency
Vance was also an investor in AppHarvest, an indoor faming startup that went public in 2021 via SPAC merger. Vance previously served on the company’s board of directors before stepping down in 2021 months after the merger was completed. AppHarvest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.
Quiver Quant lists other investments for Vance and his companies as Anduril Technologies, Kriya Therapies and Atmos Nuclear and Space.
Data from Quiver Quant shows that Vance also has investments in several ETFs. Vance’s top holdings are the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA).
Bitcoin Holder: Along with his investments in private companies and through his past venture capital days, Vance is also an investor in cryptocurrency. A previous financial disclosure showed Vance owned $100,0000 to $250,000 in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
Along with being a Bitcoin holder, Vance has also been a vocal proponent of the cryptocurrency sector. Vance has been critical of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler‘s handling of the cryptocurrency sector. The senator is also working on a bill that would work on regulating the cryptocurrency sector.
A February 2022 tweet from Vance criticized the ability to freeze bank accounts in Canada.
“This is why crypto is taking off. The regime will cut off your access to banking if you have the wrong politics,” Vance tweeted.
The selection of Vance comes as Trump has changed his tune about cryptocurrency and has the sector rallying behind him. Analyst Todd Gordon said Bitcoin could pass $100,000 with the pro-crypto ticket of Trump and Vance winning the 2024 election.
5. Trump Criticism
Past Criticism of Trump: Before becoming a firm supporter of Trump and his vice-presidential pick, Vance was a critic of the former president. Vance once called Trump a “cynical a**hole” and compared him to Adolf Hitler in a private conversation. In public, Vance called Trump “reprehensible” and worried about his political ideology.
“Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us,” Vance said in a since-deleted tweet, as reported by The Washington Post.
Vance said he was a “Never Trump guy.”
The senator has brushed off the past criticism of Trump in recent interviews.
“I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president, and he changed my mind,” Vance said.
Vance said he “bought into the media’s lies and distortions.”
“I bought into this idea that somehow he was going to be so different, a terrible threat to democracy. It was a joke.”
Vance credited Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 election as helping to get him elected to the Senate.
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