On the third day of the Republican National Convention, Republicans – led by newly nominated Donald Trump and his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio – will shift their focus to national security and foreign policy issues.
Republicans are expected to focus on Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the ongoing crises in Europe and the Middle East.
Former Trump administration officials are also expected to take the stage and outline what his foreign policy would look like if he returned to the White House for a second term.
Vance will also introduce himself to the audience on Wednesday evening when he delivers his first speech as the Republican candidate for vice president.
The 39-year-old is relatively unknown in politics and has quickly transformed from a sharp critic of Trump to an aggressive defender in recent years.
He is the first member of Generation Y to appear on a major party’s ticket, and he enters the race at a time when questions about the age of the men at the top of the ticket – 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden – are at the top of voters’ concerns.
Vance is expected to draw on his biography as someone who grew up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, whose mother was addicted to drugs and whose father was absent, but who rose to the highest levels of U.S. politics.
With this story, Vance wants to appeal to the average U.S. voter and shed light on how his upbringing shaped his views on issues such as immigration, inflation and drugs, says a person familiar with the speech.
Vance is an Ivy League graduate and businessman, but in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he delves into his blue-collar roots.
Today the book is considered a window into some of the cultural forces that brought Trump to the White House this year.
Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s pollster and senior adviser to his campaign, said Wednesday that Vance would help in key rust belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where the senator’s labor and populist views are popular.
“His story is a compelling story,” Fabrizio said at an event hosted by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and the Cook Political Report.
Beyond Vance’s prime-time speech, the Republican Party intends to focus on the theme of U.S. global strength on Wednesday.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, are expected to speak on Wednesday.
The same applies to the families of soldiers killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan and those taken hostage in the October 7 attack in Israel, a source said.
Republicans claim the country has become a “global laughingstock” under Biden’s leadership and are expected to make their case on Wednesday, citing their slogan “Make America Strong Again.”