EDITORIAL: Trump VP selection should appeal to swing-state voters

J.D. Vance’s 2016 best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” has sold 3 million copies and was made into a 2020 movie starring Glenn Close. He’s about to reach an even wider audience.

Two days removed from an assassination attempt and on the first day of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump selected the GOP senator from Ohio as his running mate. The choice is noteworthy for a number of reasons.

The No. 2 person on the ticket rarely puts a presidential candidate over the top, but he or she can help sink a campaign. Remember: Sarah Palin for John McCain in 2008 and Thomas Eagleton for George McGovern in 1972. Sen. Vance should create no such problems for Mr. Trump.

At the young age of 39, Sen. Vance is well-prepared to handle the rigors of a presidential race. He is a Marine Corps veteran who later earned a Yale law degree and worked as a venture capitalist in San Francisco. Sen. Vance will be a forceful and articulate voice for the Republican Party against the many excesses of the progressive agenda.

During his relatively limited time in the Senate, Sen. Vance has been a reliable supporter of lower taxes and regulatory relief. He supports constitutionalist judicial nominees and rejects the open borders policies of the current White House. His ties to Silicon Valley donors are another advantage he brings to the Trump campaign.

While Ohio has been reliably in the red column of late, other Rust Belt states — particularly Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — could determine the outcome of this election. Sen. Vance, who grew up in a working-class suburb between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, will have obvious appeal to many blue-collar voters in those important swing states.

Mr. Trump noted that Sen. Vance on the campaign trail “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and far beyond.”

Ironically, Sen. Vance was previously a vocal opponent of Mr. Trump, even calling himself a “Never Trump guy.” He now says he was wrong about the former president. Democrats will no doubt make hay over this — that’s politics. But don’t forget that Vice President Kamala Harris scorched Joe Biden over segregation and busing during a debate among Democratic candidates vying for the party’s 2020 nomination. What’s that about glass houses?

“Hillbilly Elegy” tells a tale about a poor, rural community ravaged by addiction and economic displacement. It is a story with which many disgruntled voters in places often derided as “flyover country” can readily identify. In adding Sen. Vance to the ticket, Mr. Trump offers his base — and perhaps many independent voters as well — a reason to maintain their enthusiasm heading into November.

This commentary initially appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.