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Donald Trump announces JD Vance is his running mate – here’s why you should ignore most news articles about the VP pick
By Christopher Devine, University of Dayton
The November presidential election is less than four months away, meaning Americans are deep in the throes of the veepstakes. You know, that favorite game of pundits, politicos and political junkies who, every four years, obsess over the presidential candidates’ choice for vice president.
The Democratic ticket is, as of this writing, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. No mystery there regarding the vice presidential pick. Former President Donald Trump ended months of speculation when he announced on July 15, 2024, that his running mate is JD Vance, a first-term U.S. senator from Ohio.
The 39-year-old politician rose to fame when “Hillbilly Elegy,” his 2016 autobiography about his hardscrabble upbringing in a poor, Rust Belt town in Ohio, vaulted him to the bestseller list.
Trump’s short list was reportedly narrowed down to three candidates – Vance, fellow Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Trump announced his final decision on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
I am a political scientist who has studied veepstakes media coverage.
The conventional wisdom is that the vice presidential pick has to be someone who can help win the election by delivering a key state or voting bloc.
But what matters most to voters, according to my research, and to the future of this country is finding someone who is well qualified to serve as vice president – and president, if necessary.
What the media get wrong
Veepstakes media coverage deserves its poor reputation as little more than an electoral parlor game. Too bad: Given the vice presidency’s importance and the media’s opportunity to educate Americans about who could be next to serve in the office, it should be so much more than that. This is the conclusion from my 2023 book, “News Media Coverage of the Vice-Presidential Selection Process: What’s Wrong with the ‘Veepstakes?’”