- Sen. JD Vance brings very little elected office experience to Trump's ticket.
- His short tenure has been marked by Trump loyalty, opposition to Ukraine aid, and populist gestures.
In his first interview since becoming Donald Trump's vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio offered one notable aside.
"I think the experience that maybe most Americans will care about, it's not that I spent two years in the Senate. I think I've had a very successful two years in the Senate," Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity. "It's that I came from nothing, became a United States Marine, and succeeded in business. That's the experience that I think gives you a fresh perspective."
In making those comments, Vance was likely seeking to appeal to GOP voters' antipathy toward government and desire for a political outsider. But it also underscores an important reality about the Ohio senator: He hasn't been there that long.
It hasn't even been two years. It's been just 18 months. Vance took office in January 2023 after defeating Rep. Tim Ryan in a closely watched Senate race in Ohio.
At age 39, he also happens to be one of the youngest members of the chamber. Only Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, 37, is younger.
Here's what to know about his short tenure in the Senate.
He's introduced 33 bills, none of which have passed
Vance has introduced a variety of bills since making it to the Senate.
That includes the "Protect Children's Innocence Act," a bill to criminalize certain gender-affirming care for minors. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia first introduced the House version of the bill in 2022.
He also introduced the "Freedom to Breathe Act" last year. The bill would prevent any federal government from instituting mask mandates on public transportation, airplanes, or public schools until the end of 2024.
"You know, 'breathe free' or whatever it's called," Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania mockingly said at the time.
None of these bills, most of which appear designed for political messaging, have even made it close to passage. But that's not entirely Vance's fault: The Senate is currently controlled by Democrats.
He's pushed the party in a more populist direction at times
While Vance has led with culture war issues while in the Senate, he's also poured a fair amount of political capital into a bipartisan initiative: The Railway Safety Act.
The bill was introduced by Vance and a bipartisan group of senators from Rust Belt states in the wake of a disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
With just about all Democratic senators on board, opposition to the measure has come primarily from Vance's fellow Republicans, who have remained deferential to the interests of the rail industry. That's given the Ohio senator the opportunity to burnish his populist credentials on the issue.
Vance had another opportunity to stick his neck out when members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike last year. The Ohio senator backed the workers' demands, though he sought to blame the Biden administration's electric vehicle policies for some of their woes.
Separately, Vance has worked across the aisle on other issues, including cosponsoring a bill with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to claw back some compensation received by executives at big banks that fail.
He's led the opposition to Ukraine aid in the Senate
Vance is not the only Republican senator who opposed sending more aid to Ukraine this year. But he was the loudest and most forceful in making the argument.
"I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another," Vance said during his Senate campaign.
It's part of a broader worldview that Vance describes as realist, one in which the United States takes a more restrained approach to international conflicts and is less eager to support foreign wars abroad.
At times, Vance took his anti-Ukraine advocacy to extremes, including arguing that a Ukraine and Israel aid package passed by the Senate this year was an "impeachment trap" for a future Trump administration.
He's been unfailingly loyal to Trump
Vance was arguably the first GOP senator to endorse Trump's 2024 campaign, providing a statement of support to the New York Times after the party had just underperformed in the 2022 midterms.
Since then, he's been an unflinching Trump ally during his Senate tenure, carefully avoiding any disagreement with the former president while going out of his way to defend him.
That's included a willingness to go toe-to-toe with reporters who've pressed Vance on Trump's controversial remarks, including when he said that illegal immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."
LISTEN: Sen. J.D. Vance destroys an AP reporter who asks about Trump’s “poisoning the blood of our country” remarks.
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) December 19, 2023
Audio obtained by @DailyCaller: pic.twitter.com/a6WTO0WRb4