From poverty to politics: 'A rags to riches story' of JD Vance's rise to the U.S. Senate

Jan. 15—The road from Middletown to Washington, D.C., has taken many detours for James David "JD" Vance, but the newly elected U.S. Senator believes all his successes began at home.

In November, Vance defeated Democratic congressman Tim Ryan for Ohio's open seat created when U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, retired. Vance received 53% of the votes from the more than 4 million Ohioans who voted in the race, according to final unofficial results reported by the Ohio Secretary of State.

Now Vance, who won his first bid for political office, finds himself in the national spotlight. This is a far cry from his humble beginnings growing up in Middletown. His father left home when JD was a young boy and his mother struggled with drug addiction his entire life.

Vance credits his "mamaw" for raising him and being his role model.

He called her "a tough woman, very disciplined and very firm" and the reason he graduated from Middletown High School in 2003, served in the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War, graduated from Ohio State University, received his law degree from Yale Law School, wrote a best-selling book, "Hillbilly Elegy," co-founded Narya, a venture capital firm in Cincinnati, and now is one of the 100 U.S. senators.

"Her discipline kept me on a pretty good path myself," Vance said during a recent phone interview with this news agency days after his swearing in ceremony. "Some kids from a troubled family don't have a guiding hand. She was a saving grace and kept me from the other chaos."

Without that guidance, Vance doesn't know where he would be today. Maybe a high school dropout. Or possibly a man with a criminal record. He wouldn't be one of Ohio's two state senators. That's for certain, he said.

There were years, he said, when some of the neighborhood kids didn't have new school clothes, so his mamaw made sacrifices to purchase them back-to-back items.

"I was very much influenced by her sense of empathy and love for people around me," he said.

Her "world views" also shaped Vance as an adult and will guide some of his decisions in Washington. He said his mamaw was "a blue collar Democrat" who believed people deserve good jobs, who believed people deserved prosperity, but expected them to work.

'There is a lot of work to be done'

Vance, 38, never figured to enter politics until several years ago when he moved back to Ohio, and then Portman announced he was retiring. By this time, Vance was an accomplished author of "Hillbilly Elegy," which Director Ron Howard turned into a movie with many scenes shot in and around Middletown.

"A lot of things were going right for me," he said.

So he decided to run for senate. He called running a campaign "a job interview" and said he had some ideals that voters would either accept or reject.

"Now the hard part starts," he said.

That's because Vance, a Republican, like others from his party in Washington, face an uphill battle with a Democratic president and divided congress, with Republicans having the majority in the House and the minority in the Senate.

He said politicians need to address the "terrible" energy crisis that's raising prices across the board and the open southern borders that are allowing illegal weapons and drugs to enter the country.

Democrats, he said, are blind to those issues.

"They don't see any reason to work with us," Vance said.

So Vance, who has opened local offices in Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo with more scheduled in the future, hopes to find particular issues and rely on his principles and priorities to "get something done," he said. People don't want those working in Washington to "sit on their hands and yell at each other," he said.

He called being elected "an incredible honor" that also comes with a responsibility.

"There is a lot of work to be done," he said.

Regardless of what happens in Washington, Vance tries to stay grounded by helping his wife, Usha, raise their three young children, Ewan, 5, Vivek, 2 and Mirabel, 1.

For him, "a good day" is having no one sick in the family, eating breakfast with them and driving the kindergartner to school, he said.

Rooted in southwest Ohio

Vance was born in Middletown in 1984 as James Donald Bowman, the son of Donald Bowman and Bev Vance. After his parents divorced, he was adopted by his mother's third husband.

Throughout his years in Middletown, Vance went by James Hamel, his stepfather's surname, until changing to Vance in honor of his grandparents.

At Middletown High School, Vance was elected vice president of the Class of 2003. A picture in the high school yearbook, The Optimist, shows Vance and the other three class officers, all females.

Brenda Lansaw, who has worked in the MHS counselor's office for more than 25 years, remembers Vance as "a pretty quiet kid" who didn't seek the spotlight. She met Vance through his good friend, Nate Ellis, Lansaw said.

She never could have predicted so much success for Vance 20 years ago, she said.

"He really has put himself out there," she said.

Nancy Nix, Butler County's treasurer, certainly likes what she sees in Vance. Nix and her husband, Bob Leshnak, are "big supporters" of Vance, she said. They attended his first fundraiser in 2021.

After reading Vance's book, Nix became interested in the man behind the words. After meeting him, she realized Vance "was special and his intellect knows no bounds."

Nix lived in Middletown for 23 years and most of her longtime friends still live there. She called Vance's journey from Middletown to Washington "a rags to riches story."

She doesn't see Washington changing Vance. She expects him to become a spokesman for the Senate and to push his policies — closing the borders, lowering inflation and assisting drug addicts — that align with her priorities.

"He's the new generation," Nix said. "He's exactly what this country needs."

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BUTLER COUNTY POLITICIANS

JD Vance, a Middletown native who recently was elected to the U.S. Senate, has joined a long list of Butler County residents who entered the political arena. Here is an alphabetical list of most of those politicians.

Dave Armbruster: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 39th district from Jan. 3, 1971 to Dec. 31, 1972.

John Boehner: 53rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from Jan. 5, 2011 to Oct. 29, 2015; member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 8th district from Jan. 3, 1991 to Oct. 31, 2015; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 57th district from Jan. 3, 1985 to Dec. 31, 1990.

Sara Carruthers: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 47th district since 2019.

Gary Cates: Member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from Jan. 3, 2005 to May 23, 2011; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 55th district from Oct. 5, 1995 to Dec. 31, 2004.

Bill Coley: Member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from May 24, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2020; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 55th district from Jan. 3, 2005 to May 23, 2011.

Courtney Combs: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 54th district from Jan. 21, 2004 to Jan. 6, 2013.

Margy Conditt: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 52nd district from June 8, 2011 to Aug. 11, 2017.

James M. Cox: He was 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, serving Jan. 13, 1913 to Jan. 11, 1915 and Jan. 8, 1917 to Jan. 10, 1921; member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 3rd district from March 4, 1909 to Jan. 12, 1913.

Tim Derickson: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 53rd district from Jan. 5, 2009 to Aug. 21, 2016.

Bill Donham: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 57th district from Jan. 3, 1973 to Dec. 31, 1984.

Mike Fox: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 59th district from Jan. 3, 1975 to Oct. 14, 1997.

Thomas Hall: Serving as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 46th district since Jan 1, 2021.

J. Eugene Harding: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 3rd district from March 4, 1907 to March 3, 1909; member of the Ohio Senate from the 2nd and 4th district from Jan. 4, 1904 to Dec. 31, 1905.

Greg Jolivette: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 54th district from Oct. 15, 1997 to Jan. 16, 2004.

Candice Keller: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 53rd district from Nov. 16, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2020.

Tom Kindness: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 8th district from Jan. 3, 1975 to Jan. 3, 1987; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 58th district from Jan. 3, 1971 to Dec. 31, 1974.

George Lang: Member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district since Jan. 4, 2021; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 52nd district from Sept. 13, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2021.

Barry Levey: Member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from Jan. 4, 1987 to June 30, 1995; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 39th district from Jan. 3, 1963 to Dec. 31, 1970.

Donald E. "Buzz" Lukens: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 8th district from Jan. 3, 1987 to Oct. 24, 1990; member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from Jan. 3, 1971 to Jan. 2, 1987; member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 24th district from Jan. 3, 1967 to Jan. 3, 1971.

Scott Nein: Member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from July 11, 1995 to Dec. 31, 2004; member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 58th district from Jan. 3, 1991 to July 11, 1995.

Walter E. Powell: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 8th district from Jan. 3, 1973 to Jan. 3, 1975; member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 24th district from Jan. 3, 1971 to Jan. 3, 1973; member of the Ohio Senate from the 4th district from Jan. 3, 1967 to Jan. 3, 1971.

Thomas Rentschler: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 40th district from Jan. 3, 1967 to Dec. 31, 1970.

Wes Rutherford: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 51st district from Jan. 7, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2018.

Paul J. Sorg: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 3rd district from May 21, 1894 to March 3, 1897.

Shawn Webster: Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 53rd district from Jan. 3, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2008.