Donald Trump who is walking with Sen. JD Vance gave his first speech as a vice presidential candidate Wednesday at the Republican National Convention — and his mother, Bev Vance, was a big focal point, receiving a standing ovation.
Vance, who has open up about a difficult childhood and wrote a memoir about it, “Hillbilly Elegy,” revealing more about his mother and her past addictions during the speech.
Vance said Trump’s ticket is fighting for Americans, including single mothers “who struggle with money and addiction but never give up.”
“I’m proud to say that tonight, my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober. I love you, Mom,” Vance said, prompting the RNC audience to erupt in cheers.
His mother, Bev Vance, stood to applaud and was seen tearing up and holding tissues to her eyes. After a long standing ovation, the crowd began to chant “Mother JD,” over and over again.
LEON NEAL/Getty Images
“You know, Mom, I think. It will be officially 10 years in January 2025, if President Trump is okay, let’s celebrate at the White House,” Vance said.
Beverly Vance sat next to House Speaker Mike Johnson during his speech and spoke to him often. He was seen shaking hands with former President Donald Trump, who sat with him and Wife of Vance Usha.
During his speech, Vance criticized “cheap Chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor and in the coming decades, deadly Chinese fentanyl,” which is causing the U.S.
Vance, who represents Ohio, grew up in Appalachia, an area plagued by substance abuse disorders, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission. In 2021, overdose-related deaths for 25- to 54-year-olds are 72% higher in Appalachia than the rest of the state.
“Even though factories are closing and addiction is increasing in cities like mine, in my life, I have a guardian angel by my side,” he said. “She’s an old woman who can barely walk but she’s tough as nails. I call her Mamaw, the name my grandmothers gave me.”
Bloomberg
He described his grandmother as a deeply Christian woman who also cursed and “could make a sailor blush.” He looks out for people and makes sure he’s not hanging out with drug dealers.
Vance’s book, a bestseller when it was released in 2016, has skyrocketed back to the top of the bestseller list. Streams of Netflix’s 2020 film based on the book also rose 1,180% on July 15, when he was announced as the VP pick, according to research firm Luminate.
In the film, Glenn Close is the grandmother, Mamaw, and her mother is played by Amy Adams.
The book is seen as providing insight for political and media leaders to understand how Trump can appeal to struggling working-class Americans in the Rust Belt. The main message of the book is that economically and socially struggling Americans can improve their own lives through will.
Another important woman in Vance’s life, his wife Usha Vance, was also at the RNC and introduced him. The couple met at Yale after Vance graduated from Ohio State following a stint in the Marine Corps.
Usha was a litigator and clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Chief Justice Brett Kavanaugh when Kavanaugh was a federal judge. The couple got married in 2014 and have three children together.
“We’re friends first, because, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be friends with JD?,” she said at Wednesday’s opening. “He is now the most interesting person I know, a working-class man who has overcome a childhood trauma that I could barely see until the end of Yale Law School, a tough Marine who had served in Iraq, but who had an idea. time. the good ones are playing with puppies and watching the movie ‘Babe.'”
