JD Vance introduces himself as Trump's running mate and makes direct appeal to his native Rust Belt

Introducing himself to the nation after being tapped as Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance used his Wednesday night address to the Republican National Convention to share the story of his hardscrabble upbringing and make the case that his party best understands the challenges facing struggling Americans.

Introducing himself to the nation after being tapped as Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance used his Wednesday night address to the Republican National Convention to share the story of his hardscrabble upbringing and make the case that his party best understands the challenges facing struggling Americans.

The 39-year-old Ohio senator is a relative political unknown. In his first prime-time speech since becoming the nominee for vice-president, Vance spoke of growing up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent, and how he later joined the military and went on to the highest levels of U.S. politics.

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"Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I'd be standing here tonight," he told the crowd, as made a direct appeal to the Rust Belt voters who helped drive Trump's 2016 victory, making clear he understood their anger and frustration.

"In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war," he said.

Vance, who rapidly morphed in recent years from a bitter critic of the former president to an aggressive defender, is positioned to become the future leader of the party and the torch-bearer of Trump's "Make America Great Again" political movement, which has reshaped the Republican Party and broken longtime political norms. The first millennial to join the top of a major party ticket, he enters the race as questions about the age of the men at the top -- 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden -- have been high on the list of voters' concerns.

At his first fundraiser as Trump's running mate earlier Wednesday, Vance was introduced by Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who said Trump's decision to choose him wasn't about picking a running mate or the next vice-president.