Washington — Sen. JD Vance is dealing with off in opposition to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS Information on Tuesday, as the 2 males with differing backgrounds look to spotlight how their ticket is finest fitted to the White Home.
For the junior senator from Ohio, who was first elected in 2022, Vance’s file in politics is not a protracted one. Vance rose to prominence in 2016 with the discharge of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which recounted his childhood rising up within the Rust Belt. Now the 40-year-old is searching for the nation’s second-highest workplace.
Vance’s views have appeared to shift throughout his time within the public eye — even in relation to Trump himself. Initially an outspoken “By no means Trumper,” Vance has since develop into a dependable defender of the previous president’s file and imaginative and prescient.
This is what else to learn about Vance’s views and file forward of the VP debate:
JD Vance’s views and file on IVF
Vance, whose choice as Trump’s working mate prompted the resurfacing of feedback he made disparaging “childless cat girls,” has expressed help for fertility therapies and what he sees as pro-family insurance policies.
“After all, we wish to make it simpler for mothers and dads to decide on life if, in fact, they’re in a horrible scenario the place they’ve fertility issues,” Vance advised Megyn Kelly in July, including that he believes “infants are a profound ethical good.”
IVF grew to become a marketing campaign subject after the Alabama Supreme Court docket dominated in February that frozen embryos may very well be thought-about kids, main suppliers within the state to quickly halt the therapy. Since then, many Republicans have expressed their help for the favored fertility therapies, together with Trump, who has outlined plans to make IVF free for sufferers, both by requiring insurance policy to cowl the therapies or having the federal government foot the invoice.
Democrats, who’ve labored to spotlight GOP positions on the difficulty, have railed in opposition to Vance for his vote — or absence — on two votes on laws that will have established a nationwide proper to IVF earlier this yr. Vance opposed the invoice in June, and didn’t vote in September. All however two Republicans opposed the measure each occasions, regardless of expressions of help for the process.
Vance signed on to an announcement by all Senate Republicans in June pledging their help for the fertility therapies, saying they “strongly help continued nationwide entry to IVF.” Vance has additionally voiced considerations about spiritual liberty associated to IVF, suggesting that Chrisitian hospitals should not be required to supply the fertility therapies.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP through Getty Pictures
Abortion
Vance has beforehand supported restrictions on abortion, signaling in 2022 that he would again a nationwide restriction on abortion past 15 weeks of being pregnant, and campaigning on eliminating abortion in his bid for the Senate. However he has since softened his stance to align extra intently with Trump’s.
“I’m pro-life. I wish to save as many infants as attainable,” Vance mentioned on “Face the Nation” in Might, arguing that it is “completely affordable” to oppose late-term abortions. “However I believe Trump’s method right here is attempting to settle a really powerful subject and really empower the American folks to resolve it for themselves.”
Vance has defended Trump’s stance on abortion, saying the difficulty needs to be left as much as the states, although he is additionally sometimes gotten forward of the previous president on the difficulty, like when he pledged that Trump would veto a nationwide abortion ban. In the course of the presidential debate, Trump would not say whether or not he would accomplish that, including that he hadn’t mentioned it with Vance.
LGBTQ rights
Vance has confronted criticism from LGBTQ rights teams for his stances, particularly in relation to transgender points. In 2023, Vance sponsored laws that will ban entry to gender-affirming take care of minors, together with a invoice to bar the State Division from permitting the gender marker “X” on passports.
Vance additionally mentioned he would vote no on the Respect for Marriage Act, which supplied federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, whereas campaigning for Senate in 2022, citing spiritual liberty considerations.
Overseas coverage
Vance belongs to a wing of the GOP that has grown more and more extra isolationist in recent times underneath Trump’s management. He is been one in every of probably the most vocal Republican senators in his opposition to further Ukraine help, whereas suggesting late final yr that the nation ought to cede territory to Russia as a part of a negotiated finish to the conflict. Extra not too long ago, the Marine veteran urged that the conflict might finish with the creation of a demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine.
Vance has additionally praised a few of the selections made by authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a frontrunner who has maintained pleasant relationships with U.S. adversaries, telling “Face the Nation” in Might that the U.S “might study from” a few of his actions, together with controversial insurance policies associated to coping with dissidents at universities. Orbán seized management of state universities in a transfer that critics say has prolonged his authorities’s right-wing affect. Vance has been clear that he would not endorse all of Orbán’s insurance policies.
The financial system
A central message of Vance’s 2016 e book, detailing his private story in opposition to the backdrop of the struggles of Appalachia and Rust Belt America, is that Individuals experiencing financial hardship can enhance their lives solely by their very own willpower. Since then, he is had a various observe file on the financial system.
Vance has touted Trump’s financial proposals, together with a quantity aimed toward chopping taxes, saying on “Face the Nation” in September that the insurance policies are reflective of the GOP perception that “American employees ought to preserve extra of their very own cash.”
Regardless of considerations in regards to the proposals including to the nationwide debt, Vance has cited Trump’s plans for tariffs that he says might offset the influence of the tax breaks on the deficit. And he is typically been supportive of protectionist commerce insurance policies.
A former enterprise capitalist who has ties to tech giants, Vance has additionally expressed criticism towards massive tech in recent times. And he is praised Federal Commerce Fee Chair Lina Khan for her work on antitrust enforcement within the Biden administration.
Immigration
Since he launched his Senate bid, Vance has made immigration a centerpiece of his marketing campaign technique. Like Trump, he advocates for stricter border insurance policies and mass deportations. He is additionally voiced help for restarting development of a border wall.
Vance has framed his opposition to immigration based totally on its influence on American jobs. And he is advocated for a merit-based system for authorized immigration.
Not too long ago, Vance has been on the heart of a controversial story in Ohio revolving round debunked claims about Haitian immigrants. Vance amplified false rumors that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been consuming the pets of their neighbors, whereas placing the blame on the Biden-Harris administration.
CBS Information will host the one deliberate vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and CBS Information 24/7. Obtain the free CBS Information app for reside protection, post-debate evaluation, complete truth checks and extra.
