JD Vance Officially Accepts VP Nomination: ‘Tonight is a Night of Hope’

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance officially accepted his vice-presidential nomination during the third night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Wednesday evening.

“Tonight is a night of hope, a celebration of what America once was and with God’s grace what it soon will be again,” Vance said.

Vance was introduced by his wife, Usha. She spoke about how she first met her husband at Yale Law School.

“He was, then, and now, the most interesting person I knew: a working-class guy who had overcome childhood traumas that I could barely fathom — to end up at Yale Law School,” she said. “A tough Marine who had served in Iraq, but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies and watching the movie, Babe.”

Vance’s mother, Bev, was seen in the crowd saying, “That’s my boy.”

Former President Donald Trump was panned to multiple times during Vance’s speech. He seemed happy with Vance’s words.

Trump announced Vance has his running mate during the first day of the RNC. For Vance, Monday’s festivities represented his first big step onto the national stage.

“JD Vance is going to make one hell of a vice president,” Donald Trump Jr. said earlier Wednesday night in his speech during the third day at the RNC.

Vance spoke about how the evening could have been a day of “heartache and mourning.”

Minutes into Trump’s speech at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, loud popping noises were heard as people huddled for safety. Trump appeared to clutch his ear and fell to the ground. When he stood back up, surrounded by Secret Service agents, as blood was seen running down his face.

“Consider the lies they told you about Donald Trump and then look at that photo, defiant, fist in the air,” Vance said. “When Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him.”

Vance called his “once-in-a-generation-businessman” running mate chose to endure “abuse, slander and persecution” rather than choosing the “easy path.”

“He didn’t need politics, but the country needed him,” Vance said. “For the last eight years, President Trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country… Just imagine what he’s going to do when we give him four more years.”

He talked about how even in the face of defiance Trump called for unity just hours after an assassination attempt on his life. To chants of “Joe must go!” Vance argued that President Joe Biden, who he called an “out of touch politician,” has been divisive.

“I think our disagreements make us stronger,” Vance said. “We love this country, we are united to win…We want this country to thrive for centuries to come.”

He said the country needs a leader that “fights for the people who built this country,” saying the “people who govern this country have failed and failed again.”

Vance, who grew up in a small town, said he would never forget where he came from and will fight for other small-town residents throughout the country.

“We need President Donald J. Trump,” Vance said. “President Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what if lost may never be found again, a country where a working-class boy born far from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the next vice president of the United States of America.”

Follow Newsweek’s coverage of the RNC Day 3 here.

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