Age, Biography, and Wiki
JD Vance was born on August 2, 1984, making him 40 years old as of 2025. His early life was marked by financial struggles and family instability, but he found support in his grandparents. Vance's biography is documented on Wikipedia, where details about his life, career, and achievements are available.
| Occupation | Politician |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 2 August 1984 |
| Age | 40 Years |
| Birth Place | Middletown, Ohio, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Leo |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited publicly available information regarding JD Vance's height, weight, or other physical measurements.
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Dating & Relationship Status
JD Vance is married to Usha Vance. The couple has three children together: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. Usha Vance has also been involved in real estate investments, including the purchase of a $1.4 million home in Cincinnati.
He grew up in an Appalachian American culture, spending summers with relatives in Jackson, Kentucky. His parents are Beverly Carol Aikins (née Vance) and Donald Ray Bowman; they divorced when he was a toddler. Vance wrote in his 2016 book about being of Scots-Irish descent, yet a 2025 report commissioned by Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party did not find a proven genealogical link between Vance and Ireland.
After Bowman was adopted by his mother's third husband, Bob Hamel, his mother changed his name to James David Hamel to remove his father's first name and surname and to preserve an uncle's first name, David. Vance therefore kept his nickname, JD. His surname changed to hers after her parents became his caretakers.
Vance has written that his childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, and that his mother struggled with drug addiction. He and his elder sister, Lindsey, were raised primarily by their maternal grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance (née Blanton), whom they called "Papaw" and "Mamaw".
According to the Associated Press (AP) and a 2019 ProPublica investigation, the charity's biggest accomplishment, sending psychiatrist Sally Satel to Ohio's Appalachian region for a yearlong residency in 2018, was "tainted" by the ties among Satel, her employer, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Purdue Pharma, in the form of knowledge exchange between Satel and Purdue and financial support from Purdue to AEI. Satel denied having any relationship with Purdue or any knowledge of its donations to AEI.
Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, advocated for their father to choose Vance. Several media and industry figures are said to have lobbied for Vance to be on the presidential ticket, including Elon Musk, David O. Sacks, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Thiel, who first introduced Trump to Vance in 2021. The Heritage Foundation, which drafted Project 2025, privately advocated for Vance to be Trump's vice-presidential pick. Musk responded to Trump's vice-presidential pick hours after its announcement, saying the ticket "resounds with victory". David Sacks, a prominent GOP donor and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, wrote on Twitter: "This is who I want by Trump's side: an American patriot." In 2022, Sacks gave a super PAC supporting Vance's Senate campaign $900,000, and Peter Thiel added $15 million. It was initially reported that Elon Musk would contribute $45 million monthly to the Trump-Vance campaign, but Musk later said he planned to donate "much lower amounts".
After Vance's claim about Haitians eating pets was disputed, he said: "Do you know what's confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here"; the child had actually died in an accidental collision between vehicles in Springfield, and the child's father criticized Vance for using the child's "death for political gain". Vance also alleged a "massive rise in communicable diseases" in Springfield, but Clark County's health commissioner reported having "not seen a substantial increase in all reportable communicable diseases". After Vance's and Trump's allegations, Springfield experienced multiple bomb threats in September. Vance denounced "violence or the threat of violence levied against Springfield", but continued his allegations against immigrants there. He defended his claims about Haitian migrants eating cats, saying that he was willing "to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention ... we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it."
On February 28, 2025, Vance and Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House's Oval Office in front of journalists in an internationally broadcast event. Vance was mostly quiet for the meeting's first 40 minutes, but then interjected to answer a question about Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vance told Zelenskyy: "The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy ... What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing." Zelenskyy responded that Putin had not abided by a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Ukraine, and asked Vance, "What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?" The conversation became hostile; Vance replied that he was discussing "diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of" Ukraine, telling Zeleknskyy: "it's disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict." Zelenskyy asked whether Vance had ever visited Ukraine; Vance replied that had "watched and seen the stories" about Ukraine, accusing Zelenskyy of showing a "propaganda tour" of Ukraine. He asked whether Zelenskyy had ever offered thanks, despite Zelenskyy starting the conversation by saying "Thank you so much" to Trump. Vance falsely said Zelenskyy "went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October" 2024; Zelenskyy had actually visited a factory to thank workers producing ammunition for Ukraine, though the timing of the visit and separately calling Vance "too radical" raised suspicion among Republicans. After the meeting, Zelenskyy and his delegation were made to leave the White House, canceling the original plan to sign a minerals deal between Ukraine and the U.S.
Vance wrote in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, that he was raised in a low-income family by his single mother and grandmother. In 2013, Vance met Usha Chilukuri while both were students at Yale Law School. In 2014, they married in Kentucky in an interfaith marriage ceremony, as she is Hindu and he is Christian. Their wedding included a Bible reading by Vance's "best friend", Jamil Jivani, and the bride and groom were blessed by a Hindu pandit. Usha clerked for a year for Brett Kavanaugh, at the time an appeals court judge in Washington, then clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts for a year.
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| Husband | Usha Chilukuri (m. 2014) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, JD Vance's net worth is estimated to be around $10 million, according to Forbes. His salary as Vice President of the United States is $235,100 annually. Vance's wealth has been significantly influenced by the success of his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," which has sold nearly two million copies as of July 2024.
In December 2016, Vance said he planned to move to Ohio and would consider starting a nonprofit or running for office. In Ohio, he started Our Ohio Renewal, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization focused on education, addiction, and other "social ills" he had mentioned in his memoir. According to a 2017 archived capture of the nonprofit's website, the advisory board members were Keith Humphreys, Jamil Jivani, Yuval Levin, and Sally Satel. According to a 2020 capture of the website, those four remained in those positions throughout the organization's existence. Our Ohio Renewal closed by 2021 with sparse achievements. According to Jivani, the organization's director of law and policy, its work was derailed by Jivani's cancer diagnosis. It raised around $221,000 in 2017 (including $80,000 from Vance himself) and spent most of its revenue on overhead costs and travel. In subsequent years, it raised less than $50,000. During Vance's 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee, said the charity was a front for Vance's political ambitions. Ryan pointed to reports that the organization paid a Vance political adviser and conducted public opinion polling, while its efforts to address addiction failed. Vance denied the characterization. Our Ohio Renewal's tax filings showed that in its first year, it spent more (over $63,000) on "management services" provided by its executive director Jai Chabria, who also served as Vance's top political adviser, than it did on programs to fight opioid abuse. In 2017, Vance formed a similarly named 501(c)(3) organization, Our Ohio Renewal Foundation, which raised around $69,000 from 2017 to 2023. As of September 2024, the foundation had not spent any funds since 2019.
On May 15, 2024, Trump attended a $50,000 per head private fundraising dinner with Vance in Cincinnati. Guests included Chris Bortz and Republican fundraiser Nate Morris. Vance appeared at significant conservative political events and in June was described as a potential running mate for Trump. In July, a former friend of Vance's from Yale Law School exposed to the media communications between them and Vance from 2014 to 2017, with the friend alleging that Vance has "changed [his] opinion on literally every imaginable issue that affects everyday Americans" in pursuit of "political power and wealth".
Career, Business, and Investments
- Literary Career: Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," has been a major contributor to his wealth. The book earned him $121,000 in royalties in 2022.
- Political Career: After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Vance attended law school and later worked in venture capital. He was elected as a U.S. Senator before becoming Vice President in January 2025.
- Business and Investments: Vance holds significant investments in exchange-traded funds, retirement accounts, and money market funds. He also has cash savings and Bitcoin. His real estate holdings include a home in Washington D.C., which he and his wife purchased in 2014 for $590,000 and now is valued at around $850,000.
Born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, Vance served in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to the Iraq War as a military journalist. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a law degree from Yale Law School. After briefly working as a corporate lawyer and Senate aide, Vance became a venture capitalist at Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital. In 2016, he published Hillbilly Elegy, a bestselling memoir that brought him national attention.
In 2007, Vance left the military and used the G.I. Bill to study political science and philosophy at Ohio State University. He graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree summa cum laude in political science and philosophy. In 2010, Vance entered Yale Law School, where he won a prestigious position on The Yale Law Journal. During his first year, Professor Amy Chua persuaded Vance to begin writing his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
After graduating from law school, Vance worked for Republican senator John Cornyn. He spent a year as a law clerk for Judge David Bunning of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, then worked at the law firm Sidley Austin, beginning a brief career as a corporate lawyer. Having practiced law for slightly under two years, Vance moved to San Francisco to work in the technology industry as a venture capitalist. Between 2016 and 2017, he served as a principal at Peter Thiel's firm, Mithril Capital.
In 2017, Vance joined Revolution LLC, an investment firm founded by Steve Case. Vance was tasked with expanding the "Rise of the Rest" initiative, which focuses on growing investments in underserved regions outside Silicon Valley and New York City.
In 2019, Vance and Chris Buskirk co-founded the conservative political advocacy group Rockbridge Network. That year, he also co-founded venture capital firm Narya Capital in Cincinnati with financial backing from Thiel, Eric Schmidt, and Marc Andreessen. During 2020, he raised $93 million for the firm. With Peter Thiel and former Trump adviser Darren Blanton, Vance invested in Rumble, a Canadian online video platform popular with the political right.
From March 2017 to April 2021, Vance served on the board of directors of the startup AppHarvest, which carried out indoor vertical farming in Kentucky. AppHarvest was also one of Narya Capital's first publicly announced investments; Vance publicly advocated for AppHarvest, touting the company's commitment to bring good jobs with health care benefits to an economically depressed area of Appalachia. AppHarvest went bankrupt in 2023 while owing over $340 million. Company founder Jonathan Webb and top executives collectively had little experience with horticulture and indoor agriculture, and the company struggled to meet its produce buyers' standards. Workers complained to authorities about "brutal" working conditions in company greenhouses; after many local workers quit, they were replaced by migrant contract workers, who eventually constituted over half the company's labor force. Vance never held an operational role at the company, and his vice-presidential campaign said he had been unaware of the complaints about working conditions and that the decision to hire migrants was made after he resigned from the board.
In July 2023, Vance and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced legislation that would have made gender-affirming care for minors a federal crime, with penalties of up to 12 years in prison. In June 2024, Vance sponsored the Dismantle DEI Act, which would ban federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and funding for agencies, contractors, and organizations receiving federal funds. Vance was not present for any Senate votes during his vice-presidential campaign.
In a first for a sitting U.S. vice president, in March 2025 Vance visited Greenland, where he said "We can't just ignore the president's desires" for the U.S. to acquire Greenland. He also warned that Greenland faced the "encroachment of powerful countries" China and Russia "as they expand their ambitions", while declaring in a "message to Denmark" that "you have not done a good job". Vance criticized Denmark for having "underinvested in the security architecture" and "people of Greenland". The next month, Vance lamented that the "globalist economy" had caused the United States to "borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture".
Social Network
JD Vance maintains an active presence on social media platforms, which are essential for his public engagement and political outreach.
In June 2016, Harper published Vance's book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. The memoir recounts the Appalachian culture and socioeconomic problems of Vance's small-town upbringing. Hillbilly Elegy was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2016 and 2017. The Times listed it among "6 Books to Help Understand Trump's Win", and Vance was profiled in The Washington Post, which called him "the voice of the Rust Belt". In The New Republic, Sarah Jones criticized Vance as "liberal media's favorite white trash–splainer" and a "false prophet of blue America", calling the book "little more than a list of myths about welfare queens". Hillbilly Elegy 's success helped propel Vance into contact with social elites, and he began writing a column for The New York Times. Vance later said that his interactions with social elites from this time, particularly their perceived disdain for "the people he grew up with", helped shape his later views.
Vance announced his Senate campaign in Ohio on July 1, 2021. On May 3, 2022, he won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote, defeating multiple candidates, including Josh Mandel (23%) and Matt Dolan (22%). On November 8, in the general election, Vance defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan with 53% of the vote to Ryan's 47%. This vote share was considered a vast underperformance compared to other Ohio Republicans, especially in the coinciding gubernatorial election. Vance had often previously spelled his name with periods after his initials ("J.D.")—including in the publication of Hillbilly Elegy—but after becoming a candidate for office, he removed the periods ("JD").
On March 1, Vance and Senator Sherrod Brown cosponsored bipartisan legislation to prevent derailments like the one in East Palestine, but the bill failed due to lack of intra-caucus Republican support. In June 2023, Vance voted against raising the debt ceiling, standing against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and saying it would result in "a reduced military in the face of a rising threat from China".
Shortly after being named Trump's running mate, Vance was criticized for saying in a 2021 Fox News interview, "we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too." The resurfaced comments, which were posted by MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski, sparked an immediate backlash across news and social media. On July 26, 2024, Vance clarified his remarks on The Megyn Kelly Show, saying, "It's not a criticism of people who don't have children" and "this is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child". He has said that being "pro-babies and pro-family" should be the Republican Party's highest priority.
Nate Vance, JD's cousin and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, volunteered to fight for Ukraine in 2022 after Russia's invasion. He served in the "Da Vinci Wolves" unit, fighting in major battles like Kupiansk and Bakhmut. In 2025, Nate criticized JD's stance on Ukraine, accusing him and Trump of aiding Russia. Nate expressed disappointment that JD, despite their family connection, didn't consult him for insights on the war.
Education
Vance graduated from Ohio State University and attended Yale Law School. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years before pursuing higher education.
JD Vance's journey from a challenging childhood to becoming one of the most influential figures in U.S. politics is a testament to his determination and resilience. His career and literary achievements have positioned him as a prominent voice in contemporary American society.
After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003, Vance enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a military journalist with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. During his four years of service, he was deployed to the Iraq War in 2005 for six months in a non-combat role, writing articles and taking photographs. He attained the rank of corporal, and his decorations included the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.<ref name="Medals">Citations for Military awards:
Vance also initiated a rapport with Peter Thiel after attending his 2011 talk at Yale. In 2010–2011, Vance wrote for David Frum's "FrumForum" website under the name J. D. Hamel. Although Hillbilly Elegy states that he adopted his grandparents' surname of Vance upon his marriage in 2014, the name change actually occurred in April 2013, as he was about to graduate from Yale. Vance obtained his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Yale Law School in May 2013.
In September 2024, Vance made allegations of "Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country". Trump subsequently echoed the allegations, including during a presidential debate. Springfield authorities said there were "no credible reports or specific claims" of such incidents and that "Haitian immigrants are here legally". Vance then said that it was "possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false", but also told his supporters to "keep the cat memes flowing". He then promoted conservative activist Christopher Rufo's allegation that African migrants were eating cats in Dayton, Ohio; Dayton authorities reported "no evidence to even remotely suggest that any group, including our immigrant community, is engaged in eating pets".
