 The 39-year-old Ohio senator would be the youngest vice president since Richard Nixon served under Dwight Eisenhower. J.D. Vance rose to national prominence in 2016 when he wrote his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, about his upbringing in Appalachia. Previously, Vance served in the Marines and deployed to Iraq. He has a law degree from Yale. And importantly now, he's close friends with the former president's son, Donald Trump Jr. When word of the pick reached this arena, the Ohio delegation started chanting, J.D., J.D., J.D.