Sen. JD Vance is set to speak at the third night of the Republican National Convention, and Democrats hold off on a virtual confirmation vote for President Joe Biden.
Vance plans to reintroduce himself to the country in Wednesday night speech
Ohio Sen. JD Vance will rely heavily on his personal biography to reintroduce himself to the country at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, as he makes his first speech since being nominated as the GOP candidate for vice president, Spectrum News is told.
Vance, who was elected to the Senate less than two years ago, will focus his speech on much of what he wrote in his bestselling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” about growing up in a working class community in Middleton, Ohio. He is expected to discuss his path from poverty and a tumultuous childhood with an absent father and a mother struggling with drug addiction, to where he is today: a 39-year-old nominated to be vice president of the United States.
Vance, who did not hold political office until coming to the Senate, never attended an RNC prior to this year.
In his speech, he is expected to tie his biography to his world view and former President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, explaining how his life story shaped his views on trade, immigration, foreign policy, the opioid epidemic and the rising costs facing everyday Americans. Vance, like Trump, is staunchly anti-immigrant and believes U.S. trade with foreign countries should be dramatically reshaped in favor of building up domestic production.
DNC delays virtual roll call to nominate Biden to August as House Dems hold off on protest letter
A letter circulating among some House Democrats that expressed concerns about a plan to swiftly cement President Joe Biden’s place as the party’s nominee in July, well ahead of the party’s in-person convention, will not be sent to the Democratic National Committee “at this time,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., told Spectrum News.
It comes after Democratic National Convention Rules Committee co-chair Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said on Wednesday that such a virtual roll call to make Biden the nominee this November will not take place before Aug. 1.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pushed for the later timeframe, a source familiar told Spectrum News. The source added Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., both agreed to push the DNC for the later timing.
Jeffries, per another source, relayed members' concerns about the timing to the DNC.
Walz, speaking at a DNC and Biden campaign press conference in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is being held, told reporters that a Friday meeting of the DNC’s rules committee will be about “setting out the agenda together” moving forward and will not include a virtual roll call.
He noted the committee “needs” to get such a roll call done by Aug. 15, however.
The spokesperson for Huffman told Spectrum News that they are “glad to see that the pressure has worked and the DNC will not rush this virtual process through in July. We won't be sending the letter at this time.”
In May, Democrats announced they would conduct a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s official in-person convention on Aug. 19-22 to ensure Biden would be on the ballot in Ohio. The move was in response to the state’s Aug. 7 deadline for candidates to qualify.
State lawmakers in Ohio have since passed a bill pushing back the deadline to facilitate the date of the Democratic National Convention. But the Biden campaign and DNC have said it is necessary to move forward with the virtual roll call before the convention nonetheless, expressing concerns that Ohio (which has a Republican governor and secretary of state) could still “play games” that could leave their candidate’s name absent.
Here's who else is expected to speak
The Republican National Convention enters its third day on Wednesday and will be capped off with a speech by the party's nominee for vice president, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, according to sources familiar. Vance will be introduced by his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance, a corporate lawyer who has clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Before the Vances speak, a slew of House members and “everyday Americans'' will address the convention. Military veterans, the family members of U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan, and the family of an American-born Israeli Defense Force tank commander taken hostage by Hamas are among the “everyday Americans” expected to speak on Wednesday night.
Here’s the full slate of speakers:
6-6:30 p.m.
• Florida Rep. Brian Mast
• South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace
• Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson
• Ric Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence
• Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz
• Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich
6:30-7 p.m.
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
• Peter Navarro, former director of the U.S. Office of Trade & Manufacturing
• Texas Rep. Monica De La Cruz
• Thomas Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• David Lara, an “everyday American” and Yuma County, Ariz., business owner and politician who the Trump campaign described as “a firsthand witness to the negative impacts of illegal immigration overrunning and overburdening his community.”
• Jim Chilton, an “everyday American” and Arizona rancher whose ranch is near the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump campaign said Chilton’s “concerns and issues with the border” include drug smuggling and human trafficking
7-7:30 p.m.
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
• Sarah Philips, an “everyday American” and a petroleum engineer “who has spent much of her career working in oil fields,” according to the Trump campaign. Phillips is expected to speak about her passion for natural gas and her opposition to the Biden administration’s energy policies
• East Palestine, Ohio, Mayor Trent Conaway
• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate
• Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to the President
7:30-8 p.m.
• Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
• Retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia, an “everyday American” who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Bellavia is the first and only currently living Iraq War veteran who received the Medal of Honor. Bellavia has run for Congress multiple times unsuccessfully in western New York as a Republican.
• Retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Scott Neil, an “everyday American” who served in the Green Berets and was one of the first U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. Neil is a prominent voice in the veteran community and founded a bourbon brand in Florida.
• Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign adviser and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée
8-8:30 p.m.
• Florida Rep. Michael Waltz
• Christy Shamblin, Cherly Juels, and Herman & Alicia Lopez; Gold Star family members of U.S. service members killed in the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrawal from the country neared its end.
• Shabbos Kestenbaum, an “everyday American” and a recent graduate of Harvard University who is suing his alma mater over the treatment of Jewish students in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Kestenbaum, 25, is described by the Trump campaign as a “lifelong Democrat who will be voting for President Trump for the first time this year.”
8:30-9 p.m.
• The Neutra Family, whose son Omer Neutra is an American-born Israeli Defense Force tank commander taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel that launched the subsequent war. They told the Forward, a Jewish nonprofit media outlet, that they will ““urge leaders and everyday citizens of both parties to come together and do everything in their power to demand the release of their fellow Americans and all the hostages left behind.”
• U.S. Army Sgt. William Pekrul, an “everyday American” and Milwaukee native. Pekrul is a veteran of World War II and was part of the second wave of troops in the D-Day invasion. He is the recipient of two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star.
9-9:30 p.m.
• Donald J. Trump, Jr.
• Usha Chilukuri Vance, a lawyer and wife of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance
9:30-10 p.m.
• Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president
