Former President Donald Trump has made his vice presidential selection, choosing Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said in a truth social post.

Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, made a name for himself as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” his memoir about life growing up in a working-class family in post-industrial Ohio that was published in 2016.

He was a “Never-Trumper” at that time, calling Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for office. “Trump is cultural heroin,”he wrote in a story in The Atlantic. “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place,” he said on NPR.

Five years later, Vance reversed course, praising Trump’s accomplishments in office and earning his endorsement for Ohio’s Senate seat in 2022.

“I regret being wrong about the guy,” Vance said about Trump several days later on the campaign trail. “I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.” He later added: “He’s the best president of my lifetime.”

Vance defeated Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, 53-47%, in the 2022 Senate race, but he underperformed other statewide Republicans by 11 points.

Republican senatorial candidate Dave McCormick offered his congratulations to the new VP pick. “A fantastic addition to the ticket — a fellow veteran who will stand up for the hardworking men and women of America.”

Pennsylvania Republican delegate Mike McMullen agreed with McCormick.

“It’s a great choice,” texted McMullen who represents PA-17 as a delegate. “A new generation of leadership. It will help balance the ticket and will resonate well in Pennsylvania.”

President Joe Biden was short and sweet as he answered a question about Trump’s running mate. “A clone of Trump on the issues,” Biden said. “I don’t see any difference.”

“Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people,” said Biden-Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.

“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and with Donald Trump’s decision today to add J.D. Vance to the Republican ticket, the stakes of this election just got even higher,” said DNC Chair Jamie Harrison. “J.D. Vance embodies MAGA – with an out-of-touch extreme agenda and plans to help Trump force his Project 2025 agenda on the American people. Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future.”

The 39-year-old Vance was raised primarily by his grandparents. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school in 2003 and served in Iraq.  Vance graduated from Ohio State in 2010 and from Yale Law School in 2013.

He is married to Usha Chilukuri and the couple has three children. His wife has served as a clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and then-D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

updated to include quote from President Joe Biden