Sen. JD Vance, an Ohio Republican, was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. Trump made this announcement on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Since his nomination, there have been different reactions, as Vance came out publicly against Trump a few years ago.
Years before venturing fully into politics, Vance was a staunch critic of Trump. He frequently and openly condemned the former vice president during his first term in office. He also voted for an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, in the 2016 election.
Last week, a college friend of Vance, Sofia Nelson, who is transgender and uses they/them pronouns, revealed the reason for their fallout to The New York Times.
According to Nelson, their friendship ended after Vance voiced support for an Arkansas bill that would ban transgender healthcare for minors in 2021.“It hurt my feelings when he started saying hateful things about trans people,” Nelson told the Times.
Sophia Nelson is an ex-friend of JD Vance. They were friends throughout their first law school semester in the fall of 2010. Nelson revealed about 90 emails and text messages that they exchanged from 2014 through 2017 until their fallout to the New York Times last week.
The emails not only reflected Vance’s being a “Never Trump” person but also included his hatred of cops.
Before the fallout, Vance and Nelson had a great friendship.According to Nelson, the friendship was not just politically based. Vance and his wife Usha brought them home-baked treats as recovery gifts, which cemented their friendship.
The Fallout, the Emails, and Vance’s Response
Nelson and JD Vance had a falling out in 2021 when Vance publicly said he supported an Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for minors, leading to a bitter exchange that deeply hurt Nelson.
“Do you support the AR legislation criminalizing providing medical care to trans kids?” Nelson texted him in April 2021.
“I do. I recognize this is awkward, but I’ll always be honest with you,” Mr. Vance responded. “I think the trans thing with kids is so unstudied that it amounts to a form of experimentation.”
Nelson wrote back that his position “deeply saddens me.”
“I know I can’t change your mind, but the political voice you have become seems so far from the man I got to know in law school,” wrote Nelson, later explaining their position “as a trans person who needed health care so I could live a full life.”
“I have a 1:30,” Mr. Vance wrote. “I will always love you, but I do think the left’s cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives.”
According to the New York Times, Nelson, who opposes the Trump/Vance ticket, hopes the email informs voters’ opinions about Mr. Vance. For Nelson, the release highlighted Vance’s quest for more power.“
He achieved great success and became very rich by being a Never Trumper who explained the white working class to the liberal elite,” Nelson said, referring to Mr. Vance’s successful 2016 book. “Now he’s amassing even more power by expressing the opposite.
”In response to the emails, a spokesman for the Vance campaign, Luke Schroeder, issued a statement: “It’s unfortunate this individual chose to leak decade-old private conversations between friends to The New York Times. Senator Vance values his friendships with individuals across the political spectrum. He has been open about the fact that some of his views from a decade ago began to change after becoming a dad and starting a family, and he has thoroughly explained why he changed his mind about President Trump. Despite their disagreements, Senator Vance cares for Sofia and wishes Sofia the very best.”
