 Bev and Bob later divorced, and Bev struggled with drug addiction. Vance was raised primarily by his grandparents, who were, he wrote in Hillbilly Elegy, without question or qualification, the best thing that ever happened to me. All right. Mamaw and Papaw were Union Democrats, except in 1984 when Papaw voted for Ronald Reagan. In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance described their political outlook as all politicians might be crooks. Just like my grandmother. Right.